[EcoPlayer]

I had a circumstance a few weeks ago where the car would not power off. I started the car and tried to put it in reverse but it wouldn't change gear. I tried D, N, R alternating (no "Do Not Resuscitate" jokes, please :lol: ) and nothing... so I tried turning the car off and it would not power off.

Towed to the dealer and dealer said they didn't find anything wrong (surprise, surprise) and it hasn't happened since.

They did tell me that I could have done an emergency shut off by engaging the emergency brake then hitting the POWER button. We shall see...
Anyone heard of this before?

 

[dgstan]

I don't know if this relates to your problem, but I had a really odd occurrence a couple weeks ago.

I started the car and backed out of the driveway. I put the car in drive (the "D" on the dash was highlighted), but the car wouldn't move. The warning lights all came on and the MFD displayed a message along these lines:

Battery will not charge in "Neutral". Please use "Drive"

I rebooted, tried again, but got the same lights and MFD message. Somehow, just prior to completely freaking out, I noticed my driver side door was ajar. I closed it, rebooted, and everything was fine.

I guess my point is that the error messages may or may not really pertain to the problem and it may have been something simple.

DGStan

 

[galaxee]

Car won't go unless all doors are closed. It can be rather annoying.

Are you sure the "ready" indicator was on the dash? Maybe you stepped too lightly on the brake when starting the car and only put it into ACC.

How did you eventually get the car to turn off?

 

[dgstan]

Car won't go unless all doors are closed. It can be rather annoying.

Are you sure the "ready" indicator was on the dash? Maybe you stepped too lightly on the brake when starting the car and only put it into ACC.

How did you eventually get the car to turn off?

I'm not sure if you're addressing Eco's problem or mine, but my car was definately in "Ready". I had already backed out of the garage (under power) and was sitting in the middle of the street. The problem presented itself as I shifted into "D".

Mine shut off fine. I cycled power a couple times before I realized the door was ajar.


DGStan

 

[melgish]

Brings up an interesting question I thought about while the guy was fixing my windshield crack.

He wanted to use the cigarrette lighter so I had to power up the car... I tossed my keys in the back seat and left the window down...

When he was ready I reached in and hit the button...

Later I got to wondering if the Prius is smart enough to check the seat sensor before allowing the car to enter drive or reverse...

 

[Sanny]

...Later I got to wondering if the Prius is smart enough to check the seat sensor before allowing the car to enter drive or reverse...

Let's try it, Melgish... reach in and do it again...

 

[KTPhil]

"Car won't go unless all doors are closed. It can be rather annoying."

Not true; the car will go, but it will beeeeeeeeeeeep the whole time you try!

First time this happened, I was stumped, road assistance wasn't answering the phone, so I drove it to the dealer. Problem went away when I closed the door (which I only found out later was the cause) and restarted. The dealer didn't know about this and was stumped.

 

[galaxee]

Are you sure the "ready" indicator was on the dash? Maybe you stepped too lightly on the brake when starting the car and only put it into ACC.

How did you eventually get the car to turn off?

That part of my post was for ecoplayer. Sorry, I was a bit ambiguous.

 

[mrv]

There are times that the 2004+ prefers to have the Park button pressed before shutting down... or some permutation of having the foot brake on when pressing the Power or Park buttons...

 

[EcoPlayer]

The car was ready and all systems go. They powered it off at the dealership by doing the "engage the emergency brake and hit power" which I found out about later.

On another note: The day that happened was on a Saturday and it just so happened that neither of the Prius certified mechanics were there that day so they looked at it on Monday. However, the service guy said that one of the regular mechanics "tried a few things" on Saturday :shock: . Is there some Toyota rule that says only Pruis certified mechanics can work on Prius? Either way, I told the service department that I don't want anyone but them (the Prius guys) to "try anything" with my car. Something to think about.

 

[DanMan32]

The emergency off is holding the power button over 4 seconds, which I believe actually puts you to Ig-On.

I have had hangs on Ig-On. I try to power up to READY by pressing the brake and then pressing power. All dash lights come on, amber LED in power button. Car won't go to ready or shut off. Nor does it respond to holding down the power button over 4 seconds for emergency off.
However, if I let go of the brake, then it will power off, and I can then restart to READY.

I believe I may have discovered the cause for this: SKS and immobilizer.
Last weekend I had the car in ACC to listen to the radio while I worked on my lawnmower. When I finished, I wondered if one could go into READY and drive off without the fob, since the car was already in ACC.
So, moved fob out of range, and tried to power to READY. It went to Ig-On, the immoblilzer light was blinking, but the car would not go to READY or turn off while I was pressing the brake. It would shut off if I pressed power without the brake.

 

[attila]

The emergency off is holding the power button over 4 seconds, which I believe actually puts you to Ig-On.

I have had hangs on Ig-On. I try to power up to READY by pressing the brake and then pressing power. All dash lights come on, amber LED in power button. Car won't go to ready or shut off. Nor does it respond to holding down the power button over 4 seconds for emergency off.
However, if I let go of the brake, then it will power off, and I can then restart to READY.

I believe I may have discovered the cause for this: SKS and immobilizer.
Last weekend I had the car in ACC to listen to the radio while I worked on my lawnmower. When I finished, I wondered if one could go into READY and drive off without the fob, since the car was already in ACC.
So, moved fob out of range, and tried to power to READY. It went to Ig-On, the immoblilzer light was blinking, but the car would not go to
READY or turn off while I was pressing the brake. It would shut off if I pressed power without the brake.

I got the same behaviour as well a while ago, but while having the fob in my pocket next to all my metallic keys and garage opener...

 

[galaxee]

In depth maintenance has to be done by a Prius Tech. Things like tinkering with the electrical systems and such. I think when it comes to trying to turn one off, a regular mechanic could probably handle that.

Besides, maybe one of them has a Prius at home, like my husband. Sometimes the Prius Techs come and ask him about a question they have- something they may not know unless they drove one regularly.

 

[DanMan32]

Hmm, too bad my dealer isn't being exceptionally nice to me. I mean they speak nice, but don't deal nice, and they should since they managed to get a boatload of money over MSRP with nothing in return.

They could have had a really valuable resource if they had made friends.

Big mistake. Huge! (I love that scene in Pretty Woman.)