ABS Code C1214

There are two mistakes that are easy to make when trying to troubleshoot a diagnostic code.

One is to try to read too much into the short "fortune cookie" description of the code. Sometimes those are useful if you are already familiar with what the Repair Manual (more info) says about that code, and just use the fortune cookie to jog your memory. But the fortune is pretty much never adequate information by itself.

The other mistake is using the internet to get information on what the diagnostic codes mean. Especially when dealing with a code in a manufacturer-assigned range. Any C1 code is manufacturer-assigned, so knowing that it might mean "inlet valve coil mumble mumble" in some other car on the internet tells you nothing whatever about what it means in a Prius. As useless as it is to rely on the fortune cookie, it's more useless to rely on the wrong fortune cookie!



The actual fortune cookie for C1214 in a Gen 3 Toyota Prius is "Hydraulic System Control Malfunction". That still doesn't tell you much (what did I say about fortune cookies?) but there are about five pages for it in the Repair Manual that explain what it is really telling you. It is about the brake controller trying to hold a certain target pressure in a brake line and not being able to, for any of several reasons. A leak could be a reason. So could a wobble in a rotor (the brake pressure won't hold steady as the wobbly rotor goes around). And so on.

Using a scan tool such as Techstream, you should be able to retrieve a 'freeze frame' from when the C1214 was set, and it will include one of eight "INF codes" giving more information about just what happened. Other information saved in the freeze frame may also be useful.

The five pages in the manual give troubleshooting steps for working in toward the cause of the problem.