Crazy Dash Numbers

2of3 - Enquiring Minds Want To Know...Two of three what?

Hum-m-m... you have a nominally two-year old MY 2012 v(vee), just joined PriusChat yesterday, and today @12:51am you report that the "Sky Is Falling" on your MID display. I suggest that you depress the PWR button on the center console and speed over to your local Toyota dealer to have this MID malfunction checked and tended to before the manufacturer's warranty coverage runs out.

 

The only way for this to happen is for the MFD to be misinterpreting the CAN data frames. Since it is not soliciting any messages, you shouldn't get a warning triangle or anything. The only time something like this should happen is if the crystal used for the clock is jittery or the datalines themselves. Since your vehicle is new, bring it into the Toyota dealership and get it documented in the system. Not just a service tech saying "yeah yeah it is in there". Make sure it is logged in the Toyota service. They won't do warranty work without an actual problem code or without reproducing the problem at the shop. So if it comes back 4 years from now outside of warranty, it will still be covered because you notified them under warranty.

 

2of3 - "I JUST bought the Prius V, Used...2 weeks ago.." a very important bit of information detail that you neglected to share with all the eyeballs here on PriusChat when making your first post within hours after joining. We regularly get those out of BLUE, "Sky Is Falling" problems here on PriusChat.

Unfortunately, connecting the dots...BOUGHT USED...PRIUS V...TWO WEEKS AGO...puts your new ride into the "Used Car Buyer Beware" category. Fortunately, your new, used 2012 v(vee) is still covered by Toyota's Manufacturer's Warranty.

FWIW: I do not expect to see any snow falling here on the Space Coast in the next 365-days.

 

A used 2012 Prius station wagon V? That seems very odd someone would trade it in so fast, perhaps that's a precursor?

The "combination meter" is the thing with the speedometer and other VFD's on it. I am not as familiar with the GenIII let alone the Prius V. But in the GenII hatchback it makes a single connection to the CANbus. There was a recall for the combination meter blanking out, member "peef" on here was able to correct the issue with a repair instead of replacement. This sounds like the dosplay is working, but displaying the wrong data.

If this happens regularly, I would suggest getting a CAN reader. I made my own with a PIC32, but you can buy something like a scangauge. If the scangauge reports the same erroneous speed as the speedometer, then the wheel speed sensors themselves may be malfunctioning and the combination meter is displaying what they are erroneously reporting. But if the scangauge reports your correct speed but the combination meter doesn't, that is a pretty big flag that the error is localized to the combination meter.

 

The story is possible. One of my friends buys 2 to 5 brand new cars every year and drives the newest. The "older" ones go to her children and husband and the ones they don't want they donate to charities or give to people who need them. So it is not unheard of for people to buy a new car all the time.