Gen 2 07 Prius engine shuts down at stop and while driving

This morning I realized that there is a pattern to our Prius incidents. What Sarah experienced last week is the same that Amy experienced when she drove the car the first day we bought it.
1. January: Amy had driven 20 highway miles with no problem. Park for 10 minutes. Started and crossed to the median of a two-lane Highway. stopped to wait. When tried to go, nothing. Will not move. 10 minutes later tried again and car worked fine for a long time after that.
1a. The car still had the original auxiliary battery. tested and found 12V battery weak. Replaced original battery with Duracell AGM vented battery for Prius. Car drove fine for weeks after this.
2. May: car sat all day. Turn on. Drove across parking lot. then noticed red triangle, VSC, brake warning lights all on. Lots of codes including high-voltage battery, transmission, and others.
3. drove fine for one week. Then going 60 miles per hour up a slight hill. heard the internal combustion engine shutdown. Red triangle, VSC, brake warning light came on. Reduced or no power steering or brakes. Coasted off the road. After 10 minutes, it drove fine again.
3a. I cleaned high voltage battery cooling fan. Drove fine for 10 days.
4. June: Sarah drove 10 minutes. Drove to stop sign. Had to wait 5 minutes for lots of traffic. When ready to pull out, push the accelerator, internal combustion engine shut down and the car would not move. Would not go into reverse. Put in neutral, and enough slope to roll backward to side of road. waited a few minutes, and it drove fine again.
codes WERE P0A0F engine failed to start and c1300 anti-lock brake. the same codes were thrown in the previous incident. Noticed engine coolant a little low and added more.

found reports of similar issues:
reports of shutdown: 2007 Toyota Prius Engine Stalls/Shuts Down While Driving: 3 Complaints

(this thread originated from this: Is Duracell 12V Battery My Problem? - All Warning Lights Appeared+Shutdown | Page 2 | PriusChat)

 

Yes, mini vci came in mail. Got a 64 bit version. did not work on my windows 10. tried 32 bit on old windows 7, didn't work. Tried 64 bit on old windows 8 machine and it works great.

The prius got where it would only run 30 seconds sitting driveway before engine died and problem lights flashed on. Code was engine failed to start.

Good news is it has run great now for 3 weeks straight. I did 2 basic things after reading many posts:

1) what seemed to fix it: cleaning the throttle body after removing the air filter box (very easy with 10mm socket). I used a chopstick, cut up old t shirt, packing tape and rubbing alcohol. Had to clean it 12 times before it was really clean. After that the engine ran well and no more warning lights or dying. I drove for a week to make sure that fix made the difference.

2) Following other posts, I also changed the spark plugs. This definitely made it run smoother and increased mileage.

3) I think not so important, I put a bottle of PAE type fuel injector cleaner in, Gumout Regane. Didn't notice any change.

Thanks to all of you who made and contribute to these forums. My car is running smooth and I'm enjoying learning to keep it that way.

I have read it is good to change transaxle fluid every 30-60K. Plan to do that next.