I left my Prius 2, which only has 12 months, and 4000 miles, in the parking lot for 12 hours.

When I came back, the fob wouldn't work. The remote opening wouldn't work either. I had to open the door with the emergency key.

When I pressed the power on button, nothing would happen. No lights, no sound, no response... the car was absolutely dead.

What can I do? Is it a problem of the 12v battery? or the 400v? Can a Prius 2 be started with jumper cables on the 12v battery? Or should I just call the Toyota official dealer?

Please help, I really don't know what to do. Thank you very much,

David.

 

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Dave,

The 12v battery is dead. Just jump it. There is a set of terminals under the hood for this purpose (the location is shown in the manual. The 12v will recharge quickly as you drive off the main battery once you press the power button. If this recurs, you will need to replace the 12v battery as it should last for a couple of weeks without use.

JeffD

 

Hi Jeff,

We'd been discussing jumping the 12 V auxillary battery and one risk is reverse polarity.
In our electric Prius vehicles, we suspect reversed cables might cause permenant damage to the expensive, electronic control modules. So when you mentioned the 'terminals under the hood' I wondered if they are diode protected to prevent accidental reverse polarity jumps?

I have an 03 Prius and haven't seen any terminals under the hood.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

Bob,

Dave said his Prius was new, so its a P2; Yours is a P1 so my answer doesn't directly apply to your case. I would hope that the ECUs are protected against reverse polarity on our Prii, but I wouldn't depend on it.

One solution that I suggest is to rewire the Aux Power Outlet (AKA cigarette lighter) to stay active when the system is shut down (there is a low-cost wire harness for this purpose at http://www.coastaletech.com ) and get a rechargable 12v battery unit with a std 12v aux plug to use when the 12v needs help. That way you can't make the polarity error and jumping is simple.

JeffD

 

ok this is prob a dumb responce but, did you make sure the valet switch under the dash is pushed?? (smart key cars only i think) with the switch ( button) turned to on you must have the key IN the ignition for it to start.t a thought good luck and tell us what you found! Dean

 

I remember the salesman or the manual saying something about putting the smart key toyota logo up to the start button for 20 seconds and then pushing start if you had to use the manual key ot get in because of a dead battery. I don't know if it meant a dead vehicle batt or the smartkey batt. Since I've only had the car a week I haven't worried about batttery issues yet. But I'll be following htis thread to learn.

 

You'll easily find out if it's the Smart system or the battery by placing the key inside the slot. Simply don't try to use the Smart system. If the car turns on then, you know your Smart system is disabled (as if you couldn't figure it out from the button under the wheel). If it doesn't, time to jump (as I did once after leaving my hazard lights on all night). Keep in mind if the battery is dead you won't be able to get your key back out of the slot.