Help! Prius not booting up properly

Twice in the last one week, the Prius has not completed the initial startup process.

I get in the car, press the brake, push the start button. All icons light up and stay lit. I cannot shift to Drive.

Normally, after a second, the icons go away you get the beep, after which one can shift to Drive.

The traction battery is almost fully charged (80%). Don't know if the 12 V battery is good. The car as 43,700 miles

If this happens, I power off the car and try again in 15 seconds. After a couple of retries, the car starts up properly.

This seems to happen when I start the car the first thing in the morning, on cold nights. Could be a coincidence.

Any idea whats going on?

Thanks.
Aloke
PS: Once it gave me an error msg: something like "Hybrid system overheating" .. I forget the exact msg. This was the first thing in the morning on a cold night, so I disregarded this as a quirk. Subsequent incidents have not shown any msg.

 

If the brake switch is bad, then it will be equivalent to pressing the power button without stepping on the brake. That won't power up the display (just power up the radio and cig. lighters).
My displays light up and stay lit (including all idiot lights).

 

I have a service call scheduled for this Friday at the dealer.

Could a weak or failing 12 V battery cause this? by not providing enough voltage for the rest of the systems to start-up?

 

Thanks. I posted the same question before reading your post.

 

What is the expected normal life of the 12V batt?

 

Can I "jump-start" the electronics if I an unable to start the car if the `2 V batt fails (even to drive it to the repair place)?

 

Thanks all for your help and suggestions.

 

It was a bad 12V battery. Confirmed by reading the error code at the dealer.

Thanks all for your help.

 

Thanks Venkat.

My commute is 35 miles one way on the freeway at 65+ mph (they just raised that to 70 mph.. There goes my mileage
So, there is ample time for the 12V b to get charged.

The dome lights that stay on are a pain, because of the delayed fade-out of the interior lights on switch-off of the vehicle.
I thought that the Prius automatically shut off the interior lights and headlights after a set time to prevent discharge of the 12 V b?

I saw the thread in your signature on the low voltage cutoff switch. I'm OK with replacing the 12 V b every 4 years as long as I get warnings early enough not to get stranded. A message on the display screen would have been nice.

Rant: Why not have informational msgs displayed on the nice screen? Some idiot lights are mandated, but the same warnings should be displayed on the screen in plain English. There should be no reason to get an OBD port reader in vehicles that have any screen like Prius or any modern vehicle with a display screen.

Aloke