VSC issues - experts please advise best next step (pics incl)

2007 Prius - about 65,000 miles. Started having issues about five days ago (lots of lights popping on, including the big red, exclamation point-filled triangle etc). The car ran ok with these lights on, and got me home.

When I got home, I did some reading here and decided to circle back to it the next morning (Friday). In the morning, all warning lights were gone and everything seemed to be ok. Drove it all day, no problems at all. Car sat most of the weekend, and worked fine on Monday. Tuesday morning, went to jump in and the car started normally - gas engine kicked on - then almost immediately died, lights dimmed a bit, and "PROBLEM" popped on on the MFD and all of the lights on the dashboard came on (as before). Only, this time, putting it into gear to try to drive it wasn't an option.

I let it sit, and did some more reading. I went back out and tried again. All the lights came on, again, but "00" was displayed on the speedometer so I put it into gear and rolled it in reverse out of the garage. The car was working, but clearly only in electric motor mode (could only get it up to about 25mph on my street, and the gas engine would not kick in.

Pulled it back into the garage, where it has sat since. All interior/dash lights come on, normally, when I push the start button to try to drive it....but as soon as the gas engine kicks on it immediately shuts down and I get what is show below in the pictures.

My question is this: do I just have it towed to the dealer and let them sort it out? Money is extremely tight, so I'm worried about that, but I did purchase the Plat Ext Warranty (which I hope will cover whatever is going on).

Any/all input and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've lurked for years here, and love it.

Thanks!



closer up of dash lights

 

thanks for the quick reply! I hadn't run across that 12V battery check procedure, I will do so.

That said, my original battery DID die (I think it was) last year - so the one that's in there is relatively new.

Going to go check on it now - will post back - look forward to any other ideas and thoughts!

 

Ok, did the headlight option of the battery check. Did it a couple of times, and it came back at 11.9 then 12.0. After trying to power on the vehicle from that service screen, the battery went down quite a bit - peaked at about 14 - then came back down to it's original reading.

So I guess it could be a bad battery? I read in those steps that a low voltage could also indicate a load issue somewhere else in the electrical system.

Any other ideas? Is it worth going and buying another battery to see if that works - or would it be simpler to just tow it to the dealer?

Thanks again for any/all help.

 

Ok, thanks. Appreciate it. Guess I'll just figure out a way to get the car to the dealer and go from there.

Does anyone have experience with claims with the Plat Ext Warranty? Is this kind of stuff typically covered?

 

Yes, I agree. I guess I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with the Toyota Plat Warranty (specifically with electrical issues such as this appears to be).

I will be sure to post back as that is a really great part of this community - the archives of issues - proposed causes - followup with actual resolution etc.