Prius (2010-12) :: Yellow Triangle With Message - Low Traction Battery Shift Into P Position
May 5, 2012
Today after running several errands, I stopped by the local CarWash to rinse the car. Same as always, parking brake off, shift into neutral and away we go. Half way threw she starts beeping, I see the yellow triangle and to the right a boxed message "LOW TRACTION BATTERY SHIFT INTO P POSITION". There was a sudden rush of anxiety because I could not shift while being conveyor-ed threw the wash. As soon as I was pushed out and the light turned green, I shifted into drive to exit. The warning and box cleared instantly.
I pulled into parking, shifted into P, and noticed the battery indicator had only 1 bar. Did a quick walk around of the car and got back on the road thinking, head directly the Dealership. Before I got to the freeway I was back up 4 bars and climbing. Continued on the freeway and within 2 exits all looked normal. As it is Saturday and the Dealership was 1 hour from closing, I proceeded home. Later we went to dinner and an event, then came home. All is still normal. Owners Manual only states to follow the command on page 515.
I know this is a long story and was intentional to starve off multiple questions. The only thing I can think is that the air conditioner, radio and headlights were on prior to, while waiting my turn for wash (park-roll-park-roll...) and up to the point of the warning (tuned off all at that point) while in the tunnel. However this is normal for me. Will monitor the battery indicator more closely for a while. I'm sure this event latched in a computer somewhere, so will run by the Dealer if anything else acts up again. A/C and radio and lights are turned off now while in "neutral", for whatever reason. The car is a 2010 II and only 27600 miles. Was not a pleasant feeling.
View 7 Replies
Advertisement
Twice this week I have received the Yellow Triangle alarm with the message Key Battery Low. This is the first time I have seen this alarm since I bought the car in August 2009.
I changed the battery the first time after 3 years based on recommendations from the forum. This time the batteries lasted just over 2 years.
I tested the batteries on both Key Fobs and they were both in the 2.9V range. The new batteries tested at 3.3V which is their rating. So ~2.9V must be the low alarm setpoint.
View 19 Replies
Working on a 2010 with 156k miles that threw a P0A80 on two separate occasions. Once before the 12v battery was changed, then the day after the 12v change. Decided to change the HV traction battery today with one from a wrecked 2014 with 56k miles.
After changing the HV batt I started getting the yellow triangle with no code associated with in. I would clear the code and drive the car a few minutes and then the triangle "check hybrid system" would appear.
View 14 Replies
I have a 2002 with 110,000 miles. Over the past 8 years it has had the check engine, triangle and ! symbols come up a few times. When I was new to the car, I raced to the Toyota dealer, but they never really found anything wrong, so I have become detuned to the issue. It has been years since the last episode, but yesterday the check engine, triangle and exclamation point all came on.
The difference is now the battery indicator will drop from 75% to 25% while idling and I can hear the inverter cooler running. (usually it only runs after driving a long distance). I can see coolant bubbling in the reservoir. After a short while, the battery goes back to 75% and will stay there for awhile during normal driving, but will randomly drop back to 25%. Is this a warning of battery failure and is there anything I can check, or should I take it to the dealer?
View 19 Replies
Gen III, 2010 Prius III ... There is a flashing yellow triangle, dashboard lights up, but won't start. The dome lights won't turn off, in any position.
Drove it last night and drive it regularly, daily. I came out to the driver side door being not fully closed. What's going on?
View 19 Replies
First off I have a 2010 with about 11,000 miles and it has been running great since I got it. This morning I was greeted with the "Yellow triangle" and the "check hybrid system warning". The car started fine and I pulled out of the garage under battery as usual and then the engine kicked in also as usual, everything seemed normal except for the warning lights. Since I have a long commute I just took my wife's car and got to work and did a forum search on this issue. I called my wife and had her turn the car on and off three times and she said it cleared the yellow triangle and check hybrid system but it still had the check engine light on. She also said the car seemed to be running fine and shes driving around town in it. I couldn't find anything on the check engine light. Is it ok to drive it?
View 3 Replies
Had a warning flash up last night that I've not seen before. Had just done a reasonably long run from an airport with 3 burly guys and their luggage. Just as I was pulling up to their hotel the car did a continuous beep and flashed up the warning "Turn Power Off" and flashed the yellow triangle. When I was stopped I was in Park and it was still beeping and flashing this warning.
View 18 Replies
Quick Question: I was driving through my neighborhood yesterday and hit a pretty good bump. I as hit the brakes, a quick Yellow Triangle Light illuminated on my dash. There were no other warning lights that I could see and the warning light was only on for a split-second. What could've caused this? BTW, I have a 2013 Prius LB 3 purchased new in August w/ only 1230 miles as of today...
View 16 Replies
Yesterday, started it up, began backing down the driveway, controlling speed with a little pressure on the brake. There was momentary weirdness, like the brakes had sort-of let go, then gripped again. And then got the warning "CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM" and a yellow triangle (inverted?) with exclamation mark.
I tried maybe 3 restarts, but the warning persisted. Phoned the dealership, booked-up Saturday, but they said they'd (commendably) squeeze it in. So we brought it in, when they eventually got to it they read the codes, cleared them, test drive, said it appeared the computer(s) "lost contact" momentarily, and it seemed ok.
I got in and started driving home, down the back lane first. Car started making a VERY strange buzzing sound, coming from under the hood. By the end of the lane I decided I better circle back to the dealership, pulled in at the curb in front, left it running and raised the hood, the hood support rod was loose, laying over the engine, doing a dance.
View 19 Replies
If my traction battery has plenty of 'juice' in it, and my 12v battery is dead....is there any way to 'jump' the 12 volt battery with the traction battery to get the car started?
View 19 Replies
This is my first year driving my prius during a hot season, and for past 3 weeks my mpg has dropped from 49 to 41-43 mpg, and the reason is my traction battery keeps getting HOT! I can hear the battery cooling fan turning on constantly at max when i reach 20 mph, my car doesn't want to start in EV mode the engine just kicks in no matter how light you press the throttle, the EV motor is not assisting with the engine, the infamous slow rpm drop keep occurring and I when to touch the traction battery case and it its HOT, Ive open up the case to check for any dust on the fan and ducts but so far its spotless. I really wished they place an AC vent for the battery because the back passenger area with full A/C doesn't t get as cold as the front dose which doesn't cool off the battery.
View 19 Replies
Purchased a second traction battery and installed it in parallel with the existing battery? Perhaps one from a wrecked Prius.
I'm thinking that would double the Ev range, which would be very handy in my current commute due to long term construction on one of the highways I use. I am in sub-5 mph stop and go so long each day that I wear down my battery and the ice ends up running while stopped, thus killing my hypermiler goals.
View 19 Replies
How often should the traction battery cooling fan come on? It started to be warmer here in FL, and I hear this fan more often now. I bought my 2011 in December and up until now almost never heard this fan working. Now it comes on at least couple of times a day, mostly under heavy acceleration in Power mode.
View 6 Replies
My prius is almost 5 years old and has 88K Klm (49K Miles) My battery has gone down to one bar of late. This never happened until recently, never went below two. The bars seem to fluctuate up and down much quicker than before. My mileage is slightly down but it could be because of other reasons. Does it seem that there is something wrong with the battery? No warning lights are coming on
View 14 Replies
Driving my 2008 with 189,000 miles on the congested "freeway" the ominous red triangle and the yellow exclamation next to it just lit up. A quick scan of the OBD showed no error codes and good auxiliary battery, engine coolant Temps etc. And good gas mileage, engine vacuum. I had replaced the spark plugs with new iridium two months ago. When I stopped and checked the hybrid converter had good levels and turbulent flow. The oil had been changed a week ago and checked again at lunchtime. Now only the red triangle shows.
View 8 Replies
I know car likes to shut off at 3-4 bar, but what if I want to keep the battery closer to full in order to get more power. Is there any way to tell the computer to keep engine running?
View 19 Replies
Long time since I have posted anything here, but I noticed the fan running far more than normal here. Now the outside temp was fairly warm, but the most recent day I noticed it, the temps were only around 80-85 degrees out.
I usually don't run the AC in my car unless it is terribly hot out - so when I hear a fan running it stands out to me. It is very obvious that it is coming from the rear seat vent area.
The temps here have taken a dip (highs tomorrow are only about 70-75F), so I will keep an ear out for it to continue. Is this something to be concerned about? It is a 2010 Prius IV with about 32k miles...
View 2 Replies
Error messages on my dash were originally the triangle exclamation and - p lock malfunction when parking , park in a flat place and apply parking brake securely ....
View 14 Replies
So I have searched about engine rattle/knock and I have found lots of results for cold starts but I haven't found it for the issue that I am having. I have a 2010 and anytime the battery is real low, around 2 bars and the ICE fires up to charge it, any time I give it a little throttle input, I get heavy valve rattling. It doesn't matter if its cold or hot, it does it as long as the battery is low. I never get this noise when battery is charged up, only when low. I have a link to the video below and you can see once I give it some input, it starts to sound like an old diesel tractor. Prius has close to 200K on the odometer and all my maintenance is up to date. Please turn the speakers up but the noise is right at 5 seconds in or so.
View 13 Replies
I have had my 2010 Prius 2010 for a year now. I have been taking my Prius to a full service car wash with the conveyor belt. They have always seemed ver Prius savvy. But the last couple of times, after getting in the car and driving away, the car seemed to hesitate upon initial acceleration. Then the problem goes away.
The last time I took it to this car wash, I sat in the car, because I only needed the express exterior wash. About a third of the way through, the instrument panel said "Low Traction Battery... put into Park" I did not obey the warning because I was afraid of putting it in Park while the conveyor belt system was pushing my Prius along. So I ignored it. By the end of the car wash, the engine had shut down. I had to start it up and drive out, and I got that same momentary, initial hesitation as I accelerated, like before. The hesitation went away after that.
View 19 Replies
My car (2006 Prius with 250k miles) was operating normally all day today. Still getting very good mileage around 52 mpg on average. Then abruptly, the big red triangle and few other yellow warning lights (check engine, VSC, and an indicator with exclamation mark in the middle) showed up while the car was moving around 20 mph.
Now, the car does not have much power and it was very difficult to speed up or going uphill. Turned the engine off and then back on. The symptoms still persist. The battery indicator was at only 1 bar. Let the engine run for a while and the battery indicator went to 3 or 4 bars. Turned the car off and then back on, the battery indicator went back to 1 bar immediately. Also the battery fan was running at high speed, even through I have just started driving for about 5 minutes.
Will do the following tomorrow:
(1) check 12v battery,
(2) use Torque SW to see if HV battery has proper values, and
(3) read diagnostic codes.
View 19 Replies
