2010 Prius Warning lights - safe to drive to dealer?

[PatW]

Hi,

Drove my 2010 Prius to a nearby shop this morning. When I switched it back on again I get 4 warning lights:

Red exclamation mark
ABS
Yellow brake warning
Orange traction control.

The car seems to be still drivable but brakes feel a bit spongy - can tell brakes are not "normal". I'm wondering if this just means the ABS has malfunctioned? Drove it back from the shop.

My main question is, is it safe to drive to the dealer in this state? (about 6 miles away).

Edit - car was serviced by 130K service recently (December).

[TonyHSD]

19 minutes ago, PatW said:

Hi,

Drove my 2010 Prius to a nearby shop this morning. When I switched it back on again I get 4 warning lights:

Red exclamation mark
ABS
Yellow brake warning
Orange traction control.

The car seems to be still drivable but brakes feel a bit spongy - can tell brakes are not "normal". I'm wondering if this just means the ABS has malfunctioned? Drove it back from the shop.

My main question is, is it safe to drive to the dealer in this state? (about 6 miles away).

Edit - car was serviced by 130K service recently (December).

Hi, 

yes it is safe to take the car to the dealer but you need to be careful and drive with extra care. When this event happens means a couple of things can be at fault, speed sensor, brake booster pump, abs module. Your car now has only hydraulic brakes on the front and no regenerative braking at all , that’s why you have that spongy feeling. The engine will be running more often or even constantly to recharge the Battery that will remain at low levels because of no regenerative braking. Happened to me twice, first time I drive the car for over 20 miles, second only 8 miles. No problems at all both times. 
Here more information: 

 

[PatW]

32 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

yes it is safe to take the car to the dealer but you need to be careful and drive with extra care. When this event happens means a couple of things can be at fault, speed sensor, brake booster pump, abs module. Your car now has only hydraulic brakes on the front and no regenerative braking at all , that’s why you have that spongy feeling. The engine will be running more often or even constantly to recharge the battery that will remain at low levels because of no regenerative braking. Happened to me twice, first time I drive the car for over 20 miles, second only 8 miles. No problems at all both times. 
Here more information: 

 

Thanks that's helpful.

This is actually the first significant issue I've had with the car in over 12 years since I bought it, so good going up to now 🙂

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, PatW said:

Thanks that's helpful.

This is actually the first significant issue I've had with the car in over 12 years since I bought it, so good going up to now 🙂

You are welcome. 
Same with mine, first ever issue for all those years , my one happened at 184000 miles, then 4 weeks later I had “hybrid system malfunction” under heavy acceleration I hit a large pothole and the car stopped on the motorway. Thankfully I had a Carista obd 2 adapter with me, I scanned the faults, then reset and they never came back in that case. Then I did checked the car and there was no physical damage or anything. Lesson learned , take it easy while driving especially over rough roads. 👍 Try to get the fault codes from the dealer and share with us to confirm the issue. 
Good luck 

[PatW]

18 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

You are welcome. 
Same with mine, first ever issue for all those years , my one happened at 184000 miles, then 4 weeks later I had “hybrid system malfunction” under heavy acceleration I hit a large pothole and the car stopped on the motorway. Thankfully I had a Carista obd 2 adapter with me, I scanned the faults, then reset and they never came back in that case. Then I did checked the car and there was no physical damage or anything. Lesson learned , take it easy while driving especially over rough roads. 👍 Try to get the fault codes from the dealer and share with us to confirm the issue. 
Good luck 

I have booked the car in on 2nd Feb to take a look, but weirdly in the meantime when I used the car again about 6 hours later, the fault cleared and now it seems fine.

Earlier in the day I had switched it off for a minute or so and then on again and the fault was still appearing, but now it seems ok.

It's been very wet recently and I haven't been using the car much - maybe some kind of condensation or water ingress issue?

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, PatW said:

I have booked the car in on 2nd Feb to take a look, but weirdly in the meantime when I used the car again about 6 hours later, the fault cleared and now it seems fine.

Earlier in the day I had switched it off for a minute or so and then on again and the fault was still appearing, but now it seems ok.

It's been very wet recently and I haven't been using the car much - maybe some kind of condensation or water ingress issue?

Hi, 

if it’s a wheel speed sensor it can be exactly that, water ingress and corrosion caused by the salt that been thrown onto the roads currently.
The thing is that once it happens it will happen again so make me think it’s same as mine issue and only way to fix it is to replace the hub bearing in question. Diagnostic is the first step and then you can take it from there. 
You can drive the car but once the warnings come back try not to use the car for very long ( miles , days, weeks) to prevent any complications.

[PatW]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

if it’s a wheel speed sensor it can be exactly that, water ingress and corrosion caused by the salt that been thrown onto the roads currently.
The thing is that once it happens it will happen again so make me think it’s same as mine issue and only way to fix it is to replace the hub bearing in question. Diagnostic is the first step and then you can take it from there. 
You can drive the car but once the warnings come back try not to use the car for very long ( miles , days, weeks) to prevent any complications.

Thanks - if I take the car to dealer as planned next week will they be able to see the historical fault or do I need to wait till it does it again?

[TonyHSD]

16 minutes ago, PatW said:

Thanks - if I take the car to dealer as planned next week will they be able to see the historical fault or do I need to wait till it does it again?

If you haven’t disconnected the 12v  battery they will likely be able to see any stored fault codes in the ecu. You can also run diagnostic yourself with suitable obd 2 adapter and phone app. This is how I managed and solved  my problems as diy project. If you aren’t about diy work perhaps it’s better to take it to the dealer and let them run a diagnostic for you. They will charge you for that but I have no idea how much would be.