Electrical or Engine Failure?

Personally my issue is this is the first car I have had where you can turn off the running lights. I need to watch I don’t accidentally turn them off.

 

Elusive,
The symptoms you had are unlikely to be due only to a low 12v battery. I'm not going to say impossible, but unlikely. I had the combo meter issue occur on my 2005 one time. It was an unusually cold and damp day for that time of the year. Exact same symptoms as you had. EXACT. Drove fine the rest of the trip, even with the dash off. Parked it when I got home, held the power button for a handful of seconds until the car finally turned off. Figured I should expect to have to replace it soon. When I started it the next time, everything was fine. That was well over a year ago and it hasn't happened since. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it starts happening more frequently.

On another note, yes, your headlights should turn off automatically following you turning off the car. Turning them off yourself is a good habit to develop, just to be certain nothing silly happens. Let the 'auto off' be your backup. The auto function on the control stalk being discussed in this thread is for the option of the lights turning on and off automatically, based on light intensity levels outside the car.

Also found this little tid-bit of info:
The auto shut-off only works if the lights are on and the Prius is off before the driver opens the door. Failure to meet these requirements will leave the lights on indefinitely, or until the battery dies. Likewise, exiting through another door will leave the lights on.

So, if you do something like open the driver door, then turn the car off, the 'auto off' timer doesn't engage.

 

Tell us that you are still checking the oil level (on the dip stick) occasionally. Most Prius need this, especially once they're up around 100k miles or more. A good many higher mileage Prius require a top off between oil changes. So make sure you look at oil from time to time.

 

We leave the headlamp switch on, the lights turn off with the car.

 

You leave your headlights on all the time? I guess that makes sense on a 2005 with yellowed lenses.

 

We do too on our '06 (leave in the on position). They turn off when the car is turned off AND the drivers door is opened/closed.

 

I would think the daytime electrical draw would reduce your MPG. That would not be as much of an issue with the Gen 4 LEDs

 

The halogen bulbs create a warm area directly in front of the headlight. Lower density in that area reduces the overall drag of the car, actually increasing MPG, which exactly offsets the MPG reduction caused by the power draw.


AIYBT,IHABTSY

 

Sort of the thermal version of dimples on a golf ball, right?

 

You have seen our car? I thought not.

Since DRLs were not standard and everyone in our family drives with the lights on for safety, seems like Toyota already thought of it, which is why the lights turn off with the car.

 

Edit: ^ what he said. LOL

You're correct since all energy comes from gas but it's only to a very small degree. I'd rather be seen and since the Gen2 doesn't have DRL's this is the ghetto fix.

 

I would not call it ghetto, since before software control, it was the ONLY way to have your headlamps on

 

I remembered my son's old 2005 having DRLs but it was a Trim 5, IIRC.
Perhaps my memory is faulty. I know his 2015 Prius v has DRLs.

 

DRLs or fog lamps. My 2005 trim 6a had fog lights. Talk about useless!

 

The headlights got quite yellow too by the time he bought his 2015 v.

 

Mine did, too. They polished out OK, though.

 

Yes, that is correct, it comes on every 5,000 miles. The procedure to reset is in the owner's manual, if you need to do it yourself.

 

At the beginning of this thread there are some good tips such as:

If your mechanic can't fix it, maybe Matt @Texas Hybrid Batteries could send you an already repaired one promptly, and you could have it installed by your mechanic or dealer.

 

Easy to do. Just follow this guy's example and get one from Matt.