Intermittent brake warning lights, spurious DTCs, loose OBD2 plug. A cautionary tale

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by AlanUK, Nov 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM.

  1. AlanUK

    AlanUK Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2019
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    Location:
    New Jersey
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I am a regular user of this forum and I would like to thank all the frequent and knowledgeable contributors who have unwittingly helped me diagnose and fix various issues in my Prii over the years.
    Recently all 3 brake related warning lights came on (2012 Prius V 184,000 miles) as I was driving. I pulled over, turned off the engine and restarted. The lights went away. Next day the lights returned as I was driving. This time I continued. I noticed there was a subtle difference in braking and that the tiny EV symbol (showing energy generated while braking was absent).
    When I got home I read the DTCs and found P0607 (control module performance), C1241 (low battery positive voltage), C1464/1465 (left and right front wheel sensors), U0073(communication bus A off) and C1541 (vehicle speed signal malfunction). It seemed rather alarming. After spending much time scouring the forums, Google and Youtube I was leaning towards an intermittent wiring issue, possibly corrosion at a terminal (before my Prius fleet I had Volvo 240s for many years: corrosion in the electrics was a constant answer to many problems). However, a little more browsing brought me to a post by Mendel Leisk in which he alluded to a loose OBD2 dongle causing warning lights to come on (but no DTCs) - THANK YOU Mendel. I usually have an UltraGuage plugged in and I had noticed at the time of the warning light appearance that the screen was faint and not displaying any data. I have left it unplugged and have since made several trips over multiple days with no return of the lights or codes. At this point I have concluded that the false alarm was created by the loose plug.
     
    Brian1954 likes this.
  2. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
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    Location:
    New Yawk
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Same. I earlier posted that I got the dashboard holiday lights, actual loss of REGEN braking, actual loss of ABS braking, traced to an intermittent OBD2 connector connection. Rebooted and re-plugged, the symptoms went away, no apparent enduring loss of function.
     
    #2 Air_Boss, Nov 19, 2025 at 2:30 PM
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM