My prius lost its power while driving this morning!

my car is a gen II. i know what caused my incident. i had a jumper boxed hooked up at the time (12v battery was dead).. as i turned the corner, the jumpers shorted and everything turned off. (it was a really dangerous turn with a cliff on the opposite end.. no rail guards.. and a fire truck in the opposite lane!) my car coasted as if in neutral and i was able to finish the turn (uphill) and pull to the side. power steering went out, and brake assist went out.. it wasn't hard to keep control.

your scenario sounds like something new...

 

I think you had a one time electronic glitch. The important thing is, you bought it to the dealer and you have documentation in case of a future occurance. The car is still warranted. Electronics, computers are weird, and the Prius is still a new and experimental and full of electronics.

 

It's odd.
If I were the owner, I would not feel scared, but definitely pissed off!
And there is some of my understanding of many posts referring unexplained malfunctions over the Prius. Sorry if I may look too hard on these posts/threads. I read too many times "scared"...

 

this happened to me as well. it's u/d and i now drive only in the right lane in case i need to pull over quickly. luckily, it still coasts and the brakes don't apply!

 

How long did the car traveled from the time the engine quits or lost power to a full stop?
At what speed you were traveling?

 

I'm curious about this:

Did you feel like there was a braking action going on?

Was there a loss of power and you applied the brake to come to a complete stop?

Flat or up grade or down grade?

This would be scary but I've only experienced the loss of motive power when the car runs out of gas and the traction battery state of charge drops too low.

You mentioned an "oil" warning light came on later, sorry for the quality but one of these:


Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

Years ago the family car lost power going freeway speed and it was a conventional car. Maybe it was a freak thing but this shows it isn't unique to hybrids or a car full of electronics.

 

Well, to me it's pretty simple. In a situation like yours, you can't afford to ignore the problem. Even if nothing is able to be discovered you owe it to yourself and your potential safety to have it checked out. If you have future problems, you want it documented that you tried to find resolution and were having problems anyway.

So take it to the dealer and hope it's something easily discovered and repairable. You are under warranty...good luck.

 

From what has been explained to me, Toyota does NOT have a limp home mode when a short or fault is detected. GM does.

Toyota monitors some systems but not all hence the pedal issues. A limp home mode should be required on all cars today when a short or fault is detected.

Again, this is what has been explained to ME. While I think it is true, I can't prove it.

 

troll?

 

Not according to some of the videos Toyota put out after the whole Sudden Unintended Acceleration stuff started hitting them hard; they showed a simulator and talked about various conditions where the engine would either be shut off or go to limp mode, depending on whether it was safe or not. (The videos were not specific to the Prius, but it's not clear whether you are talking about the Prius or Toyota vehicles in general.)

 

Most trolls don't make 80 posts over a period of 8 months before the decide to say something bad about the Prius. Not everyone who has a problem with their car is a troll. One of the most useful functions of sites such as this one is people posting their problems and, hopefully, finding solutions. The same kind of thing could happen to you or me and we might be glad to read we were not the only ones with the problem. We might even find a solution.

If this site were only a Toyota love fest none of us would learn anything.

 

According to independent tests, Toyota in general.

 

sorry! just wondered where you disappeared to.

 

Years ago, I had a Peugeot that apparently had a limp home mode, I could drive by moving my feet thru the open floorboard, I could not go too fast and sometimes the cars behind me would get impatient. This was at Wiesbaden Air Base in Germany. Fortunately this was only a recurring Dream. I never did figure it out.

 

what would make the car just stop when traveling 35-40 mph? i would think you could coast over to the shoulder?

 

I'm thinking the same thing. Maybe you inadvertently bumped the lever while engaging the cruise? Or adjusting a radio knob? I'd call the dealer and explain the occurrence to them; see what they want you to do.

 

You must be joking, Bisco? If you feel that paranoid driving a Prius, I'd suggest you get a HUMMER.