Not Engaging Gear

You sure it's in Ready mode? Press the brake a bit harder when pressing the Power button.

Have you had work done on the car and inadvertantly run the 12 volt battery down? Is the trunk hatch shut correctly? Do you leave the car for long periods or drive it daily?

When you try and engage Drive or Reverse does the car beep beep beep at you?

My inexperienced money is on a flat or low 12v or dodgy switch on the brake pedal.

Try powering all the windows down and up together at the same time to see if the 12v is ok. If they're very very slow, then your 12v is shot. If they're all normal speed then it's ok.

Any other info you can give might help.

 

The 12 volt battery must be fully charged, verify that. Also if for some reason, lights were on for a long time, may had drained your battery. The low volt and the HV battery must always be charged otherwise it will not start.

 

a lot of 10's have had short 12v battery life due to sitting on dealers lots for months waiting to be sold.

 

It has happened to me as well
Try "shutting down" the car and start the process again.
After once or twice it should be fine.
It appears that the computer needs a reboot every so often
Hope it works

 

With the Iconic model, pressing the Power button a fraction of a second prior to the Brake pedal being fully pressed would cause that lockup. It took us a long time to figure out it was the result of rushing. It was always assumed something else was wrong.

Hold the Power button for awhile, to kill the system. Then slowly trying the startup again, but this time ensure all activity with your foot is complete before using your finger.
.

 

Well, he appears to own a 2004 GII, posting in the GIII section. So it's understandable he's a bit confused.
It's most likely the 12V battery is low. Is it the original one? If so it's at end of life.

 

More confused that than. He quoted it as a 2010 with 50k miles so I'm guessing he hasn't bothered updating this side profile.

 

1) Turn the vehicle "off."
2) Make sure all the doors are closed.
3) Start it up.

 

+1, I had this message and unable to select gears when I hadn't shut my driver's door properly.

 

The other possibility is a bad brake light switch, or mis-adjusted switch. The ECU needs to sense brake application before switching to Ready.

Tom

 

I've had similar messages when I first got my Prius. I never did figure it out (it did "go away" eventually). Likely the battery was abused at the dealership prior to my ownership.

However, I did have a number of 12V battery issues almost from the getgo with my car. Pressing the brake (seeing the brake lights going on) and pushing the start button, but the car not going into Ready mode was a common occurence.

Replacing with an Optima has resolved this issue.