You can usually ignore error code B1421 on your 2004-2009 Prius

Ha, Ha, Paul.
This code is always an oldie but a goodie. I get called from small car dealers about this. Sometimes it is an "intermittent" code.
Because sometimes they tested it outside, sometimes inside.

 

Why does the error say (passenger side)

My solar sensor is only on the drivers side.

 

Huh, it looks like they did put it there in Gen 2.



It's on the passenger side in my Gen 3 and it was there in my Gen 1 also if I remember right.

Maybe Innova just didn't update the location in their software for Gen 2.

I guess it doesn't make much difference, as long as you know where the sensor is.

 

Maybe because it's on the "passenger side" (ie passenger compartment) as opposed to external? - a translation error.

Or maybe the Japanese version of the Prius is right hand drive so the passenger side is on the left. Then the listing wasn't updated for left hand drive.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I thought maybe some one switched out the dash because it had cracked. The car is originally from Nevada. But the sensors in my other gen 2s are also on the driver's side. We have 4 gen 2s.

 

You could check that by plugging the same Innova scan tool into a Gen 1 or Gen 3 (where the sensor's on the right) and see if it says driver side then.

I'm still sticking to my story that the fortune cookie is right correct for Gen 1 and Gen 3 and just didn't get changed when Gen 2 put the sensor on the other side of the dash for whatever reason.

It looks like for Gen 4 they got tired of bouncing it from side to side and just put it in the middle.

 

I don't think that's it either, on my (RHD, same as Japan) Prius the solar sensor is on the driver's side too. FWIW, techstream also has the same (incorrect) fortune cookie text.

 

i have code B1421. tried clearing the code with my scanner,but i came right back instantly.

 

Have you read this thread entirely? Why would you expect to clear this code with a scanner?

 

That would have meant reading back nine whole posts.

But we should really expand what the OP said anyway. The code isn't only on 2004-2009 Prii. It existed on Gen 1 (you couldn't talk to the Gen 1 heater with a scan tool, but you could still have it blink 21 on the A/C light). And in Gen 2 and Gen 3 (and I'll go out on a limb and say probably every generation since), you can see B1421 on a scan tool, or 21 on the climate diagnostic display (for Gen 2 and Gen 3, anyway, hold AUTO + FRESH/RECIRC while turning the car on, look for the two-digit code on the climate display).

The code is just always there if the dash sensor is in dark or shade, and always not there if the dash sensor is in strong light. That's just how you can confirm that the dash sensor works: make sure the code is present in shade, and absent in bright light. Toyota put the code there to give you an easy way to check the sensor.