Shifted into Park in Automatic Car Wash

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Not sure but it's not rolling on its wheels and can't be powered on for much of its journey. See How 2010 Prius is made in Tsutsimi plant - Videos | PriusChat.

I have toured that plant when Gen 2s were quite new (before I was even interested in buying a Prius). I didn't pay close attention to what points the car was actually rolling on its wheels on the line w/o being in READY mode. I suspect it's very little.

 

Or destroy your car and the car wash if you move at the wrong time there are several youtube video on this. Looks like you consider this as a design flow. That is fine but this behavior is probably the safest especially if the driver understand how the prius works.

The only time you can not put the car in N if you can not start that mean 12V battery is dead. But that exactly what was happening with our old cady once .. you can not shift to N either the parking break looks it but parking breake release is electric (maybe there is a mechanical override but i couldn't figure and tow guys did not bother with that either just pub the jumper on )

Well this is NOT the case (necessarily) the car may actually was stationary !!! I do not go to carwash that often but there are several stop on the way, right? So the car most likely at that moment was NOT MOVING when it changed to P. We do not know OP never came back.

Regardless this is user fault at least ignorance not knowing what happen in low battery situation with the Prius ...

 

Holy moly! I didn't realize it was that serious. Destroy the car and the car wash. I'll be very, very careful. And on YouTube! Wasn't it actually a Hollywood movie though? A comedy I thought. Kind of slap stick as I remember.

Imagine Toyota's chagrin when some poor schlub destroys his Prius (or Lexus or Highlander) and the local car wash wash with a low battery...all because of poor design and an erroneous warning message.

 

Just for fun here when some one has the car in drive in a carwash ... this is not a prius (and must have been a moron....) but

 

Funny thing is, last time I was at a local dealership having service performed, I walked out toward the back of the building just for a stroll and they had a large automatic car wash there pumping out clean cars. I don't remember if it was the kind that pulls the car along but it sure seemed long enough to me.

Does anyone know if there is some sort of particular precaution with auto carwashes with the Prius??? For some reason, I have never taken mine into one although I do so with my other car. Now I'm anxious to know...

It seems that fully relying on electronics to control virtually every aspect of a vehicle has its definite drawbacks.

 

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We've already gone over them. Turn off AC and defrost going thru to minimize draw on the HV battery as it can't charge in neutral. May as well turn off headlights.

If HV battery looks "low", try to see if you can force charge it.

 

Wow! I never knew about this possibility. I've been taking mine to an automatic type carwash and luckily this has never happened to me even though I didn't know the status of the traction battery and didn't turn off A/C. I usually turn off the stereo for some reason.

So, are there carwashes that pull the car along where it doesn't matter if the car is in park or not? Geez, now I have to go learn about carwashes too???

 

Not really.
Same thing with oil changes, tire pressure checks, and almost everything else with maintenance (which is different than repair....)
If you want something done RIGHT...you do it yourself.

 

I am having the same problem with the message "low traction battery shift to p position" also only in the car wash. It did not happen for the first few years and now it happens with more regularity. My Prius has never gone into park in the car wash, but I'm concerned that it hasn't always happened, and especially since I read this post where there was an incident because of shifting into P. There are no automatic car washes in my area that pull the car along while in park, they all require neutral. I know this is an old post, but this is what I found when doing a google search on the error message. Any updates?

 

Just avoid car washes, at least the kind where the car has to move along? The Prius transaxle and the hybrid system do no play nice with them.

Our 2010's been (very infrequently) run through such a car wash at a dealership, but I prefer to avoid car washes, for myriad reasons, stick with occasional DIY hand wash.

 

Car wash ????? what is rains for ???

I only wash the windshield occasionally .... what is the point having a nicely washed car for the first 5-10 minutes of a ride ?? OR having a nicely washed car on driveway to the neighbor to see ??? Don't get it....

 

Hah. When we had water restrictions, car washing not allowed, I washed our car one time while it was raining, actually worked out well.

 

Are you using the A/C while in the car wash? This is a major contributor problem, rapidly draining the battery while the car is in Neutral. Shut it off if possible, or turn it down (reduce fan speed, raise temperature setpoint, point dash vents pointed directly at your face, close farthest passenger vent) as much as you can tolerate. Any other accessories you can turn off (e.g. headlights) will also help.

How high is your SOC / battery level gauge when you enter the wash? If you start low, this warning threshold will trigger much sooner. Learn how to keep or get the gauge up to 5 or 6 bars before entering the wash.

If you have already taken these steps, and the battery is still draining too fast, then you likely have other problems, possibly a declining battery.

 

On a bit of a serious note, you need it for rust prevention in the states that get a winter. Being in NY, I would have thought you'd wash your cars to get rid of the salt content that sprays the entire vehicle.

Around here you get a mixture of granite and salt. So if the salt doesn't eat through the metal, the granite sure as heck will have a "sandblast" type effect and take all the paint off your car...

 

Shift into D and work the brakes to slowly advance thru the car wash. This will let the batteries get recharged.

 

This so called protection, will last till next snow with salt right which maybe ONE day??? So first rain when no salt takes care of it ...

How this effect helped by washing your car just more sanding ??? OK takes some granit off till you leave your drive-way ... washing your car puts the paint back ??? WOW what is coming out of your pipes ???

I did have a neighbor who washed his car about 3 times a week and almost always parked it back to the garage after it was dry ... and WEEKS passed him going anywhere... .

OK he was retired ...

I have a guy down the road who washes his vet EVERY weekend but again the car is not driven more then 2x a month !!!

I drive the car everyday 50+ miles so I can not see any point to have it cleaned for 10-15 minutes on the road. Interior is another thing we have a dog so hair and other things might get all over inside.

 

Don't forget to clean out the HV battery vent intake. Pet hair is one of the leading causes of it getting clogged which leads to HV overheating and failure.

 

Is normal houshold vacuuming sufficient ... that is what I usually do.... if not what amount of disassembly required ???

 

If you see pet hair on the grill for the vent, you probably have hair inside the duct and possibly in the fan. There was a thread a couple of weeks ago regarding how to best clean the duct. Try this link: Battery Fan Cleaning | PriusChat

 

I would dig down to the fan, maybe every couple of years. The hatch floor needs to come off; it has some tough fasteners, just pry hard, and leave most of them off when reassembling.

You also need to take off the corner seat back piece with the grill: it has a 12mm (socket size) bolt you can reach with a ratchet and 6" extension. Push the seat back and seat apart and shine a light: you'll see and be able to reach the bolt. Take care not to drop it.

There's one more bolt you need to remove to get the hatch floor off, and a few more bits.

It's not necessary to completely remove the fan to clean it. Q-Tips are good, then a blast of air. Also, I would run a duster wand through all the conduits you can reach.