battery warning, put prius in park, not neutral, to charge?

The warning message you saw is about the traction battery, not the 12 volt battery.

The warning is just to make sure you're aware that being in Neutral disables charging of the traction battery. It's ok to be in Neutral for short periods when it makes sense, but you should soon shift to any other position to make sure the traction battery does not discharge too far.

Little bit of Prius nomenclature: "accessory" mode is what you were in for the first photo; the second one must have been "ON" mode. You get to "accessory" with one power button push, no brake. A second power button push, no brake, takes you from "accessory" to "ON".

When you push the power button with the brake, you go to READY mode, where you can drive the car, and the 12 volt bus rises to 14-ish.

If you had not been in accessory mode for the first photo, the display screen would have been dark; you need to be at least in accessory mode for it to power on.

The voltages you report for the 12 volt battery look quite reasonable to me. There is a bit of load in ACC mode, and 12.3 there is not a matter for great concern. When you proceed to ON, there is more load added, and 11.9 then wouldn't bother me much either, depending on what items in the car were turned on.

 

Toyota is required to have a neutral position on the shifter. You are never required to use it, and, in general, you never should.

In N no engine power goes to either motor/generator, so they make no electricity. In some car washes you can run out of HV battery power before you finish the carwash, don't use those carwashes.

(If your accelerator gets stuck open, it is a good time to shift to N)

 

If that happened to me, one time, I would gravitate to the dead-simple explanation that I might have somehow knocked the lever into Neutral without realizing it. I might make a note-to-self like, if this happens again, pay extra attention to whatever I was just doing, and get a picture of the PRNDB on the dash as well as the message on the MFD. (Too bad the PRNDB isn't visible in the photo you've posted here.)

As for it being "indicative of a computer issue", well, never say never, but humans are a lot more complicated, and have memory and behavior glitches a lot more of the time.

 

The car is a 2009, so it is not a Prius v. As a gen 2, it might have the "Extra Info Screen" on the instrument cluster. The picture of the error message might be showing the Instrument Cluster, not the MultiFunction Display (A.K.A. MFD).

 

I don't remember Gen 2 having an "extra info screen", though Gen 3 does have the MID.

The fingerprints on the first photo in #3 make it look like the MFD. (Also, I think I'm seeing one bright segment of the VFD speedometer reading up barely above it.)

People don't usually get many fingerprints on the combination meter, as it isn't touch sensitive, so no real reason to poke at it, and it is so far away to reach.

 

I never had a Gen 2. Many Gen 3 Prius's had the Extra Info Screen (Higher Trim Levels), but the none of 2012 - 2014 Prius v's had them. I believe the picture displaying the error message is of an "Extra Info Screen", While the others photos showing diagnostic are on the MFD. However, since I have never driven a Gen 2 I could be wrong.

 

With respect, I think that happened this time; I believe the MID was new with Gen 3.

Even the latest, greatest 2009 Gen 2 still had the conventional combination meter with the VFD speedometer display and a bunch of indicator lights, no MID.

 

The same warning also pops up if the driver's door is not completely closed and you go in Drive

 

I stand corrected. The message that would appear on the MID (if equipped) on a Gen 3, must appear on the MFD on an earlier gen.

Note that on my 2013 Prius v which has no MID, does not display that message at all. My 2017 Prius v which has an MID displays a similar message on the MID.

 

Are you saying that putting a Prius in N for the two minutes or less it takes to go through a car wash is not advised?
I’ve never seen a drive through car wash that doesn’t require the car to be in N.

 

in the worst case scenario, you can drain your battery too much. I’ve been thru one and my battery was at 2 bars by the end of it. If your car wash is only 2 minutes then you’re probably wasting your money on it. overall, if you turn off AC and monitor the mfd you’ll be fine

 

Yeah, I wouldn't say I've ever worried about it, but I would try to have the bar graph on the high side before going in, and turn off the A/C and most other optional loads while going through.

I've mostly been using the spray-it-yourself wash with my Gen 3 though (not because worried, just to clean better). There was a roll-through I used to use more with my Gen 1, and I didn't have to think about the A/C in that case because it wasn't electric.