**UPDATED** Car died after leaving it with the valet...

So, I went to a hotel tonight and gave my car (2010 Prius II) to the valet. When I came out about 4 hours later, a different valet guy said they had a problem with my car and that it had no power. But, somehow, they were able to drive in reverse and park it near the entrance. This must have happened shortly after I left the car with them.

The car would not start, but a dash light was blinking that looked like an outline of a padlock (it was blinking too quickly for me to tell). Also, strangely, the vents were blowing air (albeit, at a very low setting).

Someone with the hotel came out with a battery charger and we hooked it up to the terminal in the front engine. As soon as the battery was attached, everything in my car lit up and I was able to start it up.

However, my front headlights would not work (though the hi-beams did), and the vent was blowing air out at full blast. The AC/fan controls were not responding, so I had to drive home with no headlights lights and air blowing full blast.

Also, all radio presets and my A and B mileage counters had reset to zero. I assume that whatever happened, the computer "rebooted".

On the drive home, the battery was showing almost full bars.

I parked in my driveway and the car would not shut off. I called a friend who has a 2004 Prius and he suggested I push the power button for 5 seconds (no foot on brake), then tap the power button quickly three times... well, it worked, the car shut off completely. I mean it just went dead. No lights, no beeps, nothing. Now the car will not start again. At least I made it home.

I've owned my car since it had 5 miles on it, and now have only @ 53k miles. I always get the schedule service and I have never had one instance of this car not starting, until tonight.

My concern is that the valet did something to screw up my car. I plan to call the dealership tomorrow, but I was hoping to get some insight from the experts here on this problem.

Thanks!

 

Hi Everyone, thank you for your quick and detailed responses. Since the car is currently dead in mu driveway, I was thinking of ordering a 12v charger from Amazon with same day delivery. Would something like this be appropriate:

 

the charger is:
Schumacher SC-1200A/CA SpeedCharge 3/6/12 Amp Charger/Maintainer/Tester

I can get same day delivery for today. Luckily, I don't need to drive today, but need my car tomorrow.

 

Thanks again everyone for your quick and helpful replies!

 

So, I was going to get a charger and fix the 12v battery, but because the car had acted so weird when I got it back from the valet (headlights not working, air blowing full blast...) I decided to call the Toyota service dept first. They suggested (of course) that I bring the car in for evaluation because the headlights and blower meant something beyond just a dead 12v.

So, I had to have AAA jump my battery yesterday and I was able to drive the car to my dealership (air vents still blowing full blast). The AC controls and the electric windows were also not working.

The price was quoted at $325 for new battery. A bit much, but worth it if the could figure out why there were these other issues.

Left the car with the dealer and took the shuttle home. Get a call a few hours later saying that they cannot figure out why the vent is blowing full blast, even with the car shut off. The 12v was dead, so it had to be replaced, but they needed to dig deeper to find out the other issues.

I left my car overnight and this morning the Toyota "Master Mechanic" took apart my dashboard in search of an answer. He found that the blower motor electronics were fried. That, along with the fact that both headlights burnt out at the same time, suggested to him that "something weird" happened to my car to cause all these issues, and it wasn't due to a faulty 12v.

So, they replaced the blower motor and headlight bulbs and got everything back together. My car is now A-OK. Total cost: $975

My main concern is that whatever happened, happened while my car was with the valet. I have never had an issue with this car, so to have everything fail at the same time like it did while left with the valet makes me think he did something wrong, somehow. It is this "something" that I am trying to figure out. I will be talking to the valet manager about my bill and seeing if they have an answer question about what happened.

Any thoughts from you folks on what could cause such a strange failure?