Continuous alarm when trying to select D, R or even B

Hi Folks

I have the 2010 Prius with 23K on the dial and over the past few days when going to use the vehicle, at the time of applying the brake pedal and pressing start, all fine, then when we attempt to move the shift leaver to D or R we are greeted with a continuous audible alarm and the display, is telling us to shift to Park with a few other words for Parking the vehicle. No other warning lights occur but we found out the car will drive or reverse with the continuous alarm and message displayed for selecting P.

Okay, put techstream on and I have no trouble codes, at all in fact which is a good thing and I can also hear the car working as normal with P engagement, neutral etc. So the only way to correct the alarm is to turn it off and try again. Any try many times indeed! So its happened to the wife and now myself. Eventually for some reason all back to normal. I've also tried variations of brake pedal application and trying to move vehicle thinking P pin locking problem but it appears to be a signal malfunction or something simple.

Question is has this happened to any person or does anyone know where I might look to check electrical connections etc. Searching tends to get me to the audible alarm from factory reversing rather then my fault.

Advice will be muchly appreciated, Cheers Geoff

 

Hi all, can I say a big thankyou to you for this information. I guess I had not considered that 12 Volt Battery status! I'll just buy a new one as a prevention measure (I thought they last forever hi hi). Yes its an 9/09 build and I up to March this year was at 19500Klms as we were in a small town of 10 thousand or so. Then over the past 6 months had moved to the city. I'll double check the doors as well to ensure.

Regards Geoff

 

And after a quick search, I just ordered the Optima Yellow Top D51 on special delivered to door at $179 AUS and we average in the mid $250. Couldn't find the specific replacement mentioned here but after looking at the specs and specials on the d51, at least you cannot go wrong with these drop in types. Basically as a first owner of these vehicles, it makes a lot of sense to use a AGM type given no high current starting load and secondly, it sits inside the cabin with you. Once you say that to any folk, then it helps make the search easier for AGM types. I noted the battery location, both the pos and neg terminals have enough play that in the event you get a reverse model (with pos and neg), they will still go in without a problem and is an advantage perhaps when in the middle of onwhere. My voltage stationary after 4 hours with interior lights on was only 12.35 (after long trip) so that is telling me its on the way down given I was expecting a float upward of 0.5volt static. Not bad after a July 09 stamp battery so is what I expected.

 

And just to add, with the D51 it looks like I will need to increase the terminal connecters. Whereas that specific batt has the same size. Just a challenge after all,

 

Just an update, I see my special is for the D51T1 (small terminals) so its another option for direct replacement vs the D51 standard size. Only notices this in the billing doc given they said suitable for prius. Interesting that special will catch out the others thinking the D51 has the larger. So all good.

 

Brisbane Australia. I must see if I can add that to the sidebar.