brake related problem lots of warning lights

Hi there,

Weird problems with my 2006 prius. Car has 54,000 miles.

4 times now over the last year, during abnormal braking conditions (someone swerves over at me on highway and I have to break and swerve suddenly to avoid), I get multiple warning lights, and the warning buzzer. Yesterday this happened, and I got the red triangle, the red brake light, the abs light, and two new lights on the LCD display I've never seen before. I pulled over and began to slow down. The brakes felt stiff, and the vehicle started to loose acceleration power. LCD started resetting itself. I stopped the car, turned it off, and turned it back on to find everything normal. I then drove 200+ miles to my destination without incident.

This is the worst case of this problem yet. My 12v battery was replaced last year after the first of these issues, with similar symptoms, but no loss of acceleration. The tech said the only code in the system was a voltage spike, and thus thought it needed a new battery.

In every other case of the problem, I turn the car off and turn it back on, and it's fine. I'm about to drive 2000 miles next week, and want to avoid further issues... Any suggestions?

 

no codes yet - sorry - going to dealer in the morning.

 

The service manager called - no codes in the car from the incident. He had a tech working with it most of the day trying to reproduce what happened, to no avail. They seem committed to trying to figure this out, which is good, but I fear I'll get sent home again with no answers. Thoughts from anyone?

 

Thanks for the suggestions Patrick - tires are a year old, maybe 5k miles on them... they are whatever the Toyota dealer recommended for the Prius. I can't remember the brand off the top of my head. I can't replicate the problem, and neither could the dealer, and both of us have tried multiple times. Seems like only getting cut off in traffic 4 times in a year really isn't so bad to me! The problem also happened the 3rd time while backing out of my driveway under normal conditions after the emergency brake was released, so it's possible that the swerving isn't the only time it triggers the problem.

Is it possible that something in the ABS system, or sensors, is just causing a system confusion issue? I also have a DICE unit installed... could that contribute to this?

This last incident was by far the worst, and the fact that the car lost acceleration, reset the multi function display a few times, and lost cruise control, all without any damage codes in the system, makes me pretty uncomfortable. Too much computerization in a car? I don't know. I love this car when it isn't having this problem, but I'm starting to be a little afraid of it... and so is my wife.

I'm headed to the dealer to pick it up. They don't have any answers for me either. Again, any help out there from the peanut gallery would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading the thread.

 

any thoughts on the inverter coolant pump being the culprit here?

 

By the way Patrick, could it be the inverter coolant pump issue you discussed in this thread?:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...s-warning-lights-after-3-5-hours-driving.html

 

The speedometer didn't disappear when the cruise went out, but the further I drove, the more it seemed like the battery was dying - the warning buzzer started to get distorted.

The e-brake incident was less severe, with the buzzer, ABS, and brake lights on, and was resolved with a quick restart of the car.

I like the DICE theory... I haven't been able to get in there and check things out yet, but that's next on my list. A glove box clean out (where the unit is mounted) is in order anyway...

Thanks for giving it some thought!