Traction control light on after steering column repair

You may want to move this to the technical side.

 

Toyota only requires one mechanic at each stealership to be trained in hybrids... So it's safe to assume that they don't know what they're doing on days when that person is not available and because they're warranty specialists, they're going to keep replacing super overpriced brand new parts, even though they may not be certain that it will fix the problem. That's why we call them stealerships.

@SFO might be able to help you find a reliable hybrid mechanic in the Bay Area to fix this at a reasonable price with parts that are much lower in cost because they're the same age as your 10 year old car.

Also you need to read the fine print of the body shop paper work who repaired your vehicle, as well as read the paperwork of the insurance company that paid for the repairs. They are responsible for fixing your car and they have not done so...

If the shop improperly aligned your steering rack than they're on the hook for the cost of those repairs/reduction in charges, as well as the cost of getting the traction control light issue fixed. And while the fine print from both parties may give them an out, I'd raise hell until you get results. Quite often if you keep contacting them and politely stating and restating your position they're going to do way more to get you to leave them alone.

Don't let all these clowns push you around! Stick up for yourself!

 

Wherever the work is done, it will have to start with reading the trouble codes to understand why that light is on. If the codes are posted here, we could have better suggestions.

 

Is an insurance company participating in this, what have they said?

Have you shown this document to the auto body repair shop and told them they failed to do the job that they were paid to do and need to compensate/accommodate you in some way? Bottom line, they were paid to repair the car and they failed to do so and there are consequences for that failure!

 

Sometimes people forget to plug in the angle sensor again after having the wheel off. Or they get it improperly aligned. I'd check the easy stuff before deciding anything needs to be replaced.

On the other hand, sometimes if that stuff is put back on misaligned, it can be damaged the first time the wheel is turned all the way left or right.

 

I just completed this job a week ago. I knew the price from dealer and got another qoute for $700. I got the part for under $10 shipped and did it myself. Any questions let me know. I have pics also.

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You can also try resetting the steering angle sensor with the paperclip obd trick!

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There have been other threads on PriusChat about people buying the ten-dollar spiral cables on eBay and finding them not long-lasting or reliable. But they are so much cheaper than Toyota's; maybe just buy three at a time or so to save shipping, and keep the other two around for later.

It's a little hard to test whether they will successfully deploy the airbag (except by driving the car into something to see what happens, which few purchasers elect to do). If you have access to a high-current micro-ohmmeter to test the cable by itself, that might be a usable way of testing. (Never use such a device to test a cable with the airbag attached; in fact, there are specialized guaranteed-low-current microohmmeters made just for doing that, and nothing else should be used.)

There are a number of procedures (not "tricks") found in the repair manual (more info) that all involve a jumper wire (could be a paper clip) between different pins of the OBD port, sometimes combined with other steps. Each one does a specific task.

Each procedure should be used consciously to do its specific task, in circumstances where that task is called for. Lumping them together as "tricks" to throw at the car blindly isn't a recipe for good outcomes.

The most important one of all of them to know about is the one for getting the trouble codes from systems in the car (by counting dash light blinks). That is handy in a pinch when you don't have a code-reading tool with you. It is covered in a lot of threads here on PriusChat. The codes will then hint you in the direction of what to do next.