2010 Doesn't always start: Operator error?

I've got a wonderful new Prius2010 (III) and, mostly, I love it.

Thanks for all the great newbie info on this site, and please accept my apologies in advance for what is likely to be another stupid newbie question. Here goes....

Sometimes my car won't start. I get in, press the brake pedal and the green light on the power button doesn't appear. It's either yellow, or (usually) no light at all. SO if I press it then, I can get it to the lights on (ACC?) stage, but the "ready" light never appears.

Most of the time getting out of the car and locking and unlocking the doors and then getting in and trying again works. (Looks ridiculous to passersby and passengers, but who cares?) That uusally results in normal startup. Yesterday it didn't.

I've read the manual, and haven't found anything that quite helps tho having read more, I am now stunned by the number of things I can do wrong to this car. Am I just doing something stupid here?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Tom-

Thanks so much. That's very helpful I will definitely press harder on the brake and see if that solves the problem over time.

If that doesn't work (warning: dumb newbie question to follow), what do I look up on PC to find out how to change the adjustment? I tried "adjust break light switch" in various ways and couldn't find instructions.

Have a great day,

Iris

 

Haha. Thanks for the encouragement! I'm at the dealership right now. Yup, it did it again despite my using Tom's great tip and pressing HARD on the brake pedal. I called and said you have to see this now or it'll need to be towed in. So here I am.

 

Update on my brand new (did I mention I got it 6 weeks ago?) Prius:

It's been in the dealership's repair shop for a day and a half. Thank God it actually did its not-starting trick in front of the service guy, so they me. But they can't find the problem. I am told they are in near-constant touch with an engineer at Toyota who is walking them through every step of a painstaking diagnosis. The best guess is it's the module that is supposed to recognize the key fob....sorry guys, I forget the name. But they can't prove that is the problem and don't want to replace it until they've demonstrated it's faulty.

So what does that mean? Well, they have stepped up and given me a free loaner as we all agree I should not have to pay for a rental. That's really helpful. They will keep the car for the weekend and maybe I'll know something Monday.

Has anybody ever had an experience like this? It's pretty frustrating.

 

Thanks for the support, Spiderman! It helps.

 

I always keep it locked, and I lock it with the fob. Is that better/worse than locking with the handle?

FYI, the immobilizer is high on the list of possible causes, but still can't be confirmed.

Thanks!

 

Hi-

SO, just in case any of you have been perishing with curiosity, here's the update.

The dealership kept the car for 10 days. They did everything they could think of, much of it in tight communication with a Toyota engineer in CA. I do feel like they took this seriously and worked hard. They were not able to reproduce the error again -- so I'm really lucky it did happen once in front of the service manager. Eventually they got permission from their area management to go ahead and replace the emobilizer.

I drove the car for 4 days and it started every time.

Just when I was thinking we are all set now, me and my new Prius..... <<insert drum roll here>> ......... on the 5th day home from the dealership, it got hit while parked at the beach. I was just shaking out my beach towel when I heard noise, sirens, etc. Yup, my new Prius (mileage under 2K) got hit by a woman driving with a revoked license. She hit the car behind me, my car, and really trashed hers.

My car's in the shop. They will fix it up. Most important: no one was hurt.

I can't believe it.