car wont start-all dash lights on-please help

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Seymour1, Oct 6, 2025 at 10:22 AM.

  1. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2024
    254
    29
    0
    Location:
    22967
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    When I parked my 2010 Prius Saturday, it ran fine-no warning lights. This A M, all the dash lights were on with a message,"Check hybrid system". The yellow triangle light was on. I am disappointed that it gave me no notice or warning ahead of time. The 12 v battery measures 12.5 volts. I plugged in my OBD2. It has the free version of Dr Prius. It shows 220 volts and 11.66 volts for the 12 volt system. My Creader shows "High voltage interlock circuit high" and "High voltage power resource" (I removed the orange safety plug, but I put it back in and locked it) It also reported "HV/EV Control system regenerative malfunction" and "HV/EV system malfunction". The regenerative malfunction is disturbing. I replaced two expensive parts in the brakes 2 years ago. The brake fluid reservoir is full. 2025-10-06_9-57-23.jpg 2025-10-06_9-58-50.jpg
     
  2. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2018
    7,456
    3,874
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    11.6v is NOT good for the 12v battery. 12.5 is marginal.
    Get an AGM 5 volt or less charger and charge the 12v battery for at LEAST 4 hours, 8 is better.
    Or until the charger says the battery is full.
    How old is the 12v battery? It may need replacing.

    A weak or old 12v battery will cause all sorts of issues with the hybrid battery system.
    Because it is not seeing what it needs to see because the 12v battery cannot supply enough
    voltage/amperage to run the computers correctly.

    After you have a FULL charge on the 12v battery, or you've replaced it with a new on, and charged the
    new one that is very likely weak from sitting, clear the codes. Turn the car off for a minute, then
    try to start it again.
     
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    27,143
    17,812
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Are those screenshots from CReader? I'm disappointed that they only show code descriptions and not the actual codes. Is there a way you can get it to show the codes?

    Some of the codes we see often enough to recognize anyway. The "High Voltage System Interlock Circuit High" is definitely P0A0D, for example. The "HV/EV Control System Regenerative Malfunction" and "HV/EV System Malfunction" are probably C1259 and C1310 (or the other way around, which doesn't matter much 'cause they're usually together and mean pretty much the same thing).

    But it's always better to be sure the actual codes are in your post, so it doesn't start off as a flash-card quiz for the people trying to help you.

    The C1259 and C1310 don't mean anything you have to worry about with the brakes. Those codes are just the brake system telling you it knows there are hybrid-system codes. (It has to know that, because to do regen the brake system has to depend on the hybrid system doing its part.) Those codes will go away once you've got the hybrid-system codes dealt with.

    At what place in the story did that happen? Disturbing that plug is the most common way people give themselves a P0A0D code. That's not a code that often pops up unprovoked.
     
    Brian1954 likes this.
  4. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2024
    254
    29
    0
    Location:
    22967
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Still no luck in fixing it or troubleshooting it. I am thinking that if there is a problem with the brakes, it would disable the high voltage to prevent using the car. But, less than 2 years ago I replaced the master cylinder and the pump accumulator ($1200 for parts) with new parts and redesigned pump. It was a terrible job that I do not want to do again. The local garage cannot work on it. The Toyota dealer is 45 miles away and would have to be towed over there.
    I started to buy the Dr Prius app, but decided that it only monitors the traction battery health.
    I checked the fuses under the hood and all are good.
     
  5. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2018
    7,456
    3,874
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two
  6. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2024
    254
    29
    0
    Location:
    22967
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Yes. The codes are P0A0D, P3004 and C1259, C1310
    I will place the charger on the battery. It is less than 2 years old.
     
  7. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    2,019
    790
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Remove the orange safety interlock plug and reinstall it per the directions below.
    There are three steps to install the orange safely plug.
    1. Insert the plug into the socket.
    2. Flip the lever of the plug.
    3. Slide the lever. This last step is something not completed, which will cause the code.
    Here is a diagram from a Gen 2 Prius.
    View attachment 272365
     
  8. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2024
    254
    29
    0
    Location:
    22967
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    The charger is now charging. Earlier, I jumped the weaker battery with a stronger battery. Nothing changed.
    As I understand it, the high voltage battery and a step-down voltage converter is used to charge the 12 volt battery. It would seem that if the 200 volt battery is charged, the 12 volt battery would also be charged. Maybe the car must be driven for it to work that way.
    I cannot remember driving the car since Friday. That is longer than it usually sits.
    Thank you guys for your help. I am learning a lot.
    I checked the charger. It read 13.3 v. It is charging at 6 amps rate. I still cannot get the ready light. After trying, the charger shows 12.9 v. The battery discharged 0.4 volts from trying to get the ready light. That seems excessive. Although I am in panic mode, I will wait for the battery to charge more.
     
  9. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    2,019
    790
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    The problem with the car is not the 12v battery! See post #7.
     
  10. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    27,143
    17,812
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    The car doesn't have to be driven, but it must be in the READY state (where you see the word READY in green on the instrument cluster). When the car's off (or ACC or IG ON, any state besides READY), the high voltage battery is completely isolated so there is no power to that step-down converter.
     
  11. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2024
    254
    29
    0
    Location:
    22967
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I removed and reinstalled the orange safety plug before I plugged in the OBD2. Maybe the P0a0d was triggered whan I removed it and the code stays there even after reinstalling the safety plug. And I did push the lever over to the right after I reinstalled it. Perhaps the safety plug is faulty? It would have failed by itself while sitting in my driveway. I just placed an ohmmeter across the 2 heavy contacts of the orange plug. It reads 0 ohms (short) whether I slide the lever right or left. There are 2 very small contacts which also reads 0 ohms if the handle is in the enabled state or the disabled state. And the small contacts do not connect to the large contacts in either mode. The orange plug is weird.
     
  12. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2018
    7,456
    3,874
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Carefully remove the safety plug, then carefully reinstall it, one step at a time.
    It is fairly easy to not do it correctly. Even though it seems to be done correctly, it might not
    be seated correctly.
    Do each step carefully. Doesn't hurt to give it a try.

    Wait for the battery to charge up. After removing the charger, the voltage will go down and level off.
    OR should level off. Wait 5-10 minutes after removing the charger before trying to start the car.

    Clear the codes FIRST. Do not depress the brake pedal when pressing the start button.
    Clear the codes, then turn the car off. Then depress the brake pedal, and press the start button.

    Try not to panic. Do the simple things first, ONE AT A TIME. If you do several things, you won't know what
    the problem was.

     
  13. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2008
    27,143
    17,812
    0
    Location:
    Indiana, USA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Right, there is nothing in the service plug itself that turns on or off. The two large, current-carrying contacts are always shorted (through the fuse that is inside the plug), and the two very small safety-interlock contacts are also always shorted.

    When you fully seat the service plug and then slide the lever sideways, you are making those shorted very small safety-interlock contacts plug into the very small terminals at the side of the socket, completing the safety-interlock circuit that is the subject of the P0A0D code.

    I'm inclined to agree with Brian1954 that the 12-volt battery doesn't seem a likely suspect here. The Toyota manuals are clear in what they recommend you check before proceeding with diagnosis; they have frequent and consistent instructions like this one:

    [​IMG]

    Of course charging the battery isn't going to hurt, but the idea that some even higher voltage is needed or the ECUs will give trouble codes that don't mean what they mean is an idea that my experience hasn't borne out.