So I was driving and suddenly three warning lights came on. The Master warning light (Red triangle with !), Check Engine Light and the Hybrid System warning light (Car with !).
My AC works fine and I was able to shut it off and start it back up with no problem. I also did see a difference in driving.
I was driving my 2006 Prius on the highway (120,000 miles on it). I'd been driving about 10 minutes and all of a sudden, the dash warning lights lit up.
Red triangle with exclamation point.
Yellow circle with exclamation point.
Yello check engine.
The car did NOT lose power. It kept driving fine with no noticeable change in how it operated. Fuel consumption stayed the same. Braking worked fine. I had a completely full tank of gas (had just filled it up before I got on the highway). Temperature outside about around 60 degrees.
I kept driving to my destination (another 20 miles at highway speeds). The car sat parked for about 3 hours. I returned to the car, started it up. The same warning lights appeared, except for the Yellow circle with exclamation point. Plus, this time I noticed on the energy monitor screen the graphic of the red car with the exclamation point.
Again though, everything seemed to be working fine. While the car had been parked for 3 hours I did some browsing through the owner's manual and saw a notation that is the warning lights were only yellow and not red that it was okay to proceed with caution to the nearest dealer.
my much adored 2006 prius just got three warning lights as i was driving and slowing down at a light. The big red triangle- "Master Warning", the Brake System Warning, and also, the Hybrid System Warning. It was like warning lights galore... i'll bring it into the dealership first thing tomorrow, but any clue what's going on? I regularly maintain it. The only other thing that ever went wrong with my car is that the touchscreen quit working years ago, and i refused to spend the 3k for them to connect a silly wire. Why my lights went on and is this something serious?
View 7 RepliesStarted my '07 this morning and after about 10 feet of driving forward all these lights came on. It also said PROBLEM across the digital AC/Consumption display before Problem disappeared and that right box showed up in the top left corner. The giant red ! triangle is solid, NOT flashing.
May not be related at all, but last night when I started my car to come home from work the gas pedal felt non-responsive as if it was trying to use battery power but it wasn't there. I turned the car off, back on, let it idle for 30 seconds before driving and I drove home without a problem.
I had just picked my kid up from school, as I turn out of the parking lot my A/C stops blowing cool air, I check the A/C screen and it still says it's set on High with temp at 68. However, it is blowing very low with warm air. Seconds later the dash lights up with numerous warning lights. I'm on the highway and I'm able to gather speed, but each time I do I hear the engine revving like crazy. We only live a few miles from the school so I am able to make it home. Once home, I turn off the car and turn it back on. The only warning lights displayed now are the red triangle and the yellow check engine light. I turn the car off, pop the hood, I check the belt and it was fine. I checked the oil and it seemed fine. I check the coolant overflow and it was empty.
View 15 RepliesMy 08 prius completely shut off while driving on the california freeways today. No warnings no lights on the dash nothing. Just powered off. Will not start the ready light of any dash lights for that matter work.. tried to jump it.. nothing working. What the he'll can cause thus.. I'm about 500 miles from home with a car just parked. Could a 12v battery cause this no start issue?
View 15 RepliesA large auto magazine has reviewed the Auris Hybrid (Gen III Prius drive train) while remarking that driving in 'B' gives better regen. This auto magazine also does a fuel economy evaluation and noted engine noise as a negative point for the car.
Now, how much fuel economy is affected during normal city/highway driving when you drive in 'B' rather than 'D'? And as a bonus. How much more will the engine run due to the missing regen?
When I turned my Prius on today, the following warning lights remained on:
red "BRAKE"
yellow "ABS"
yellow "VSC"
yellow exclamation mark inside a circle inside parentheses.
It drives fine. After driving it a bit I tried turning the car off and back on a few times. The lights still remain on.
Mine did. I was driving on the highway and pretty much every warning light went off. It was like the space shuttle crashing back to Earth. Freaked me out. Cruise control stopped working also. But I was able to get home safely.
So first, I tried AAA just to see if the guy would know something, but it was way over his head. He did notice my aux battery was failing, but not much else. Then I found a service online that comes to your place to do the work, and they sent a guy out on a Saturday and he read the codes, and did a full visual inspection, and yes, something was up with the cooling system. He suggested I have the dealer look at it because flushing the system is VERY important apparently. Should be done every 50,000 miles.
I was so worried it was the hybrid battery; we all know what that means! So I had the car towed to the dealer (don't drive if your Master/Hybrid light comes on!) and they said, indeed, the pump was gone. And, of course, they found a number of other things included the dying aux battery. It took them 4 days to get the damn part in stock. At least they covered the car rental for me.
The other night, went to start the prius and nothing happened except all the warning lights came on! So took the foot off the brake pedal and sat there for a minute trying to figure out. What the heck happened?? Tried a couple more times and then suddenly it was fine and it started! Now I have to mention that the outside temp was around 16*,,, not sure if that could have caused this strange reaction?
View 9 RepliesI bought a toyota prius 2008 few weeks back. ave done only 2500 km. Today I received few warning lights on the dash of my car.
View 19 RepliesTwo days ago the first sign of a problem was the AC going out, followed by the red warning triangle and check engine lights coming on about 10 minutes later. Checked coolant and topped oil off (it is due for an oil change, btw) and drove about 20 miles home, no problems despite warning lights. Even the AC started working again. A little while after getting home, I started it up......no warning lights. I thought all was good.
Yesterday, no issues. Didn't drive more than about 15 miles though.
Today, took roughly a 25 mile roundtrip with no problems. Made the exact same roundtrip about 2 hours later and the red warning, VSC, brake system and check engine lights all came on (see pic) about 10 miles into the trip. I immediately turned AC off to remove that stress. No changes in car's behavior, however. Made it back home, turned car off and waited about 20 minutes. Turned it back on and only the red warning and check engine lights came on. 2 hours later....same two lights are still on.
I have a 2006 with 155k miles. I took it into the dealer for a mini service this week. Drove home after the service was complete, then drove to work yesterday. On the way home an alarm sounded and the red triangle light with !, the break system light (O) with !, the VSC light and the engine CHECK light came on.
A friend used his scanner to read the error code for me and it reported a "p0a80" code. What does this code mean? Replace the hybrid battery?
I had a transient warning light appear on my 2008 Prius during a recent drive from the Portland, Oregon area to Seattle . The reason I'm posting this is that this icon isn't listed in the owners manual, nor does it come on when you start up (boot up) the Prius. Also this warning is on the same line as the "ready" and air re circulation icon. On the right side of the display ( the usual low pressure tire, and I think traction control warning icons are on the line below).
This occurred about 135 miles into my drive at the infamous Interstate 5 as you enter Tacoma, Wa ( stop and go traffic) the icon is yellow /Amber a box with 3 yellow squiggle lines which are vertical and cross just past the bottom of the box. After about 15 minutes the warning light went out. It never came back. I have 115k miles and car was recently serviced. I wonder if this is some air flow / ventilation warning. I am overdue to check cabin AF but am unaware there would ce a warning for that. The AC seemed just fine and no effect on the cars performance. Weird.
My wife has a 2007 Prius with approx. 110k miles. We installed a new 12V battery approx. 1 1/2 year ago at 81k miles. A few months ago (Mar/Apr), her dash would randomly display the warning lights shown in the 1st image: Brake System, ABS, and VSC (the TPMS light is always on due to faulty tire pressure sensors and appears unrelated).
The car seemed to be driving normally with no abnormal behavior. Whenever this happened, my wife would pull over, turn off the car, and restart - at which points all the warning lights would disappear.
Even though our 12V battery is relatively new, I did check the voltage of that battery using the MFD's on-board diagnostic screens as explained by other posts on this board. Voltage was within the normal range with the HID lights both on and off.
It has been cold recently (out of the past week, highs in 20's or lower). This hasn't been as much of an issue before, but in the past week I have had the red triangle of death, brake warning light, check engine light, and VSC light all come on at the same time, three separate times. Also, the display screen shows a red outline of a car with "!" through it. Each time this has happened, the lights didn't come on as soon as the car was "Ready" but only after the gas engine was running for a minute or two.
The first time the lights came on, I was driving back from class, but after I got back to my house I did some internet research and saw it may be a low oil indicator. Checked the oil, it was almost at the bottom mark on the dipstick, and it had been over 10,000 miles since the last one (oops! we don't normally do that). After reading some stories online, I took it in to get an oil change, and the lights went off for a couple days. Second time the lights came on, I checked the oil level, it was definitely over-filled, so I took it back to Walmart and had them redo the oil so that it was at the right level. I checked the oil level before leaving the parking lot that time and it was at the top mark on the dipstick. Again, all the lights were off for a couple days.
Today, I drove my car for about an hour in the morning (temperature was around upper teens, wind chill below 10) and had no problems. Then, this evening I turn the car on and start driving out of the parking lot when the car beeps at me and flashes all of the warning lights again. I drove back to my house and it is now sitting in the driveway. I am not planning on driving it until I can have a car mechanic friend take a look at it on Tuesday, but he doesn't know anything about the hybrid system/battery.
My wife and I have also noticed that since the weather has been colder, the hybrid battery (shown on the "Energy" screen when driving) seems to be charging and discharging much faster than normal. I haven't seen it at only 1 bar or full of green bars more than a couple times in the 2.5ish years we have owned the car, but in the past two weeks it has happened 5-10 times (estimated). I am not sure if this is due to the weather, or if it could indicate a problem with the (hybrid?) battery. For obvious reasons, this makes us nervous :/
As a side note, I changed the transmission fluid sometime in December, so I was wondering if possibly I didn't put enough fluid back in. I have checked the diagnostic screen and found some codes, but most of them seem to relate to the audio, which doesn't concern me as much as the code that seems to indicate the transmission, which is why I mention the change I did a while back. I just don't know why it wouldn't have shown up until now. I'll attach some pictures I took tonight of the codes and lights.
Also, the battery is a couple years old, but after sitting for a couple hours the battery was reading 12.1 V according to the diagnostic screen, so I don't think that is the issue. We haven't had any trouble getting the car to start, and once it is running it still seems to drive normally with the warning lights on. What these codes mean, and a possible cause for the warning lights?
I have a Gen II 2009 Prius with 31K miles on it. I love my Prius and until now had no issues with it. Last Saturday when I was driving on the highway, the following lights came on the dashboard.
1) Master Caution Light
2) VSC
3) ((!)) 'electronic brake malfunction'
4) Check engine light
The car seemed to be handling fine, and I kept on driving. However, after a few miles the car would go in neutral, I would need to stop before it will let me drive. I got to where I needed to go and then had the car towed to the dealer service shop.
The dealer came back and said that the water pump for the inverter needed changing (it was under warranty) plus the 12V utility battery also needed changing. They saw the DTS codes when the connected their computer to the car. I have my car back and other than the price of the battery had a really good experience with the dealer service center. They were prompt and efficient. Also it seems to me that car is driving more in the electric mode with the engine coming on less. Just my impression.
My '05 is completely lifeless in the drive. I have been assuming it's the 12v, at least to start. So this is what I've pieced together.
My key fob battery was dying, my car wouldn't start. Had to use the physical key to get into the car. I assumed the 12v battery was dead (but maybe it wasn't); the Parking button had the faint green lights. AAA jumped the car and I limped home, trying to charge the battery with about 30 minutes of city driving, with dash lit up with red BRAKE and triangle lights as well as amber !, VSC, and something else on. The check engine amber light was NOT on until I powered off the car, at which time, only the check engine light was on and a rhythmic buzzing. The buzzing only went away when I closed the window and then the car went quiet and dark.
I only just now (48 hours later) realized to check the fob before changing battery, which, sure enough, didn't emit the red light when I pressed the buttons. After I did the battery change, the red light comes on when pressing buttons, but no response from car.
I will definitely change the 12v battery, and hope hope hope this is the fix.
My fiancee has a 2005 base model and is out shopping today. She just called me and said that she is stuck in a parking lot.
She told me on the way off the highway today the "big and little" triangles came on, but the car drove fine. When she got back to her car to leave, the car would turn on presumably, but all the warning lights were on. She then said that the car would not go into drive and only into neutral.
2005 Prius I picked up a few weeks ago decided to eat both of it's batteries for lunch and leave me high and dry. I replaced the aux battery yesterday which I was lucky to get at cost at the toyota dealer since the aux battery was original. Put it in and all was well with the car for the rest of the day. Got in it today and headed out and was welcomed with the big stupid "!" triangle, the regen brake warning, check engine light, "PROBLEM" written on the display with a picture of a "!" inside a car outline, and some severely reduced performance. So I looked online and found a place with a bunch of low mileage batteries out of smashed up 2009's.
View 19 RepliesI have a 2006 Prius with approximately 112,000 miles. It has been a merely perfect car until yesterday. Everything was driving normal on my way to the store. When I turned on my car to leave the store a half hour later, the red exclamation point of death showed up along with the check engine light, ((!)) and the VSC signal all came on. Upon reading on this site, I decided to run the 12V battery test through the nav screen and sure enough, I believed that is what it was. I bought a battery and had it put in. I left the shop and and all the dash warning lights went off. When I restarted my car 10 minutes later to head back to work, all of those exact warning lights came on.
I ended up taking it into the Toyota Dealership Service area. They tried to reset the dash warning lights by pulling out the battery fuse (I think that's what they are called) in the front box of the car. It didn't work so they gave me the option to pay for the diagnostic ($98) or leave and drive around and hope everything is fine. I wanted peace of mind, so I had them do the diagnostic.
The assistant service manager came back 1.5 hours later and told me he had bad news. He said that there were faulty cells in my hybrid battery, which is why the service lights remained on. I almost started crying, sharing that I had thoroughly researched the prius before buying and that this forum, specifically had almost no talk of this...that is rarely if ever happened, that it needed to be replaced. He said in his 15 years at Toyota he had only seen it a couple of times. He told me warnings to look out for is if my car won't go above 25 miles an hour or it could technically start using only the gas side of the engine. He also said that the car just needs to "relearn" how to operate after replacing the 12v battery and it could essentially be fine.
He then quoted me $3500 if I ended up down the road of needing the battery replaced.