Has anyone else had this problem? Since I purchased my 2010 Prius new, it often won’t start. As instructed, I press the brake, push the power button for a few seconds, and hope that the ready light will come on. Typically, the dashboard lights up but the ready light doesn’t come on. It can take ten minutes or more to get the car started. This happens when the car is cold, or has been sitting for a while, or randomly at other times. The Toyota service department will only address the problem if they can replicate it. I’ve left it at the service department for a couple of days until they experienced the problem. They reset a computer component which helped for three months. Now the issue is happening again and I’m back to trying to convince Toyota that it’s a problem. Any solutions that you know of?
You might post this on a Prius forum, like Priuschat. There will be a large number of Prius owners that can help, and maybe this question has already been asked.
Have they checked your 12V battery? If it’s weak it’ll cause problems (even though it doesn’t ‘start’ the gas engine).
Observe the start button as you press the brake when starting. The light should change from orange to green. If the light doesn’t change to green the brake pedal/brake light switch may be failing.
If the light in the start switch is flashing this indicates there is too much tension on the steering system to release the steering lock. This can occur when one front tire pressed against a curb or parking stop. If this is the case turn the steering wheel side to side to remove tension from the steering lock.
Thanks for the info @Nevada_545. I’ll never own a Prius in all likelihood but the info is still nice to know.
This month I experienced similar problems getting the READY light. My 2010 Prius is 4 1/2 years old. From my experience with batteries, I start looking for battery trouble at the four year mark. So, rather than spending a lot of time trying to diagnose the problem, I replaced the battery and then waited to see if the lack of the READY light problem continued. It did not.
My second comment relates to the prices of the special type of battery needed for the Prius. I have seen prices from $190 and up. However, I came across an Exide battery that is a direct fit. It is sold by auto parts stores that are part of the BUMPER TO BUMPER network. The price is $136 plus the refundable core charge. I installed it in 10 minutes…easiest battery installation I have experienced. Since then, no problems getting the READY light. One reminder: When installing the battery I hooked up my portable jump starter device to the jump starting connections under the hood. This saved all of the radio presets, etc., while I disconnected the old battery.
Hope this info helps other Prius owners.
Thanks everyone! I took it in this week and left it overnight. They replaced the 12v battery and reset the computer. It’s working and I’m hopeful. I’ve been very happy with my Prius other than that.