Last Friday I left my '06 Prius in auxilliary mode accidentally and drained the 12 volt battery. The local dealer recommended I have the car towed to the dealership, believe it or not. Before I simply jumped started the car myself (problem solved, by the way), I discovered that I could not get the car out of park if the 12Volt battery was dead. Any ideas how to overcome this if jump starting the car would not get you going and the car did actually need to be towed?
They tow with the front wheels off the ground. All front wheel drives are towed that way or on a flatbed. I just did the same thing, and jump started it fine.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Neicy @ Jun 19 2007, 11:07 AM) [snapback]464785[/snapback]</div> Note: Any time you need to have your Prius towed, make sure they do this. There may be a tow truck driver out there who is not aware of it. A flatbed is always best.
The Prius doesn't have a transmission in the conventional sense. It's always in gear, and shifting, if you want to call it that, is done by varying the field to the two motor-generators. There is no way to override Park; you have to lift the front wheels, or drag them and hope you don't do any damage. Tom
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(findlj @ Jun 19 2007, 11:11 AM) [snapback]464719[/snapback]</div> Welcome to the club! I consider this to be a design flaw and wish Toyota would address this problem in their upcoming models. Transmission is electronically controlled as is the parking "pawl" and that's why when the car won't start (because the 12 volt battery dies) you cannot "shift" it out of park. We had the same thing happen and they "dragged" the car up onto a flat bed truck and took it to the dealer.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mbarrows @ Jun 20 2007, 07:12 PM) [snapback]465506[/snapback]</div> A jump probably would have got you going again. But one drag onto a flatbed won't do any harm, so don't worry.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mbarrows @ Jun 20 2007, 05:12 PM) [snapback]465506[/snapback]</div> If you could put your Prius in "neutral" and moved it more than a few feet or at anything other than low speed, you would destroy the HSD. What you see as a design flaw is a fail-safe feature. As noted above, the Prius is always in gear through the PSD, there is no way to NOT have it in gear.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Jun 22 2007, 02:38 AM) [snapback]466232[/snapback]</div> Maybe we can take a page out of NASA's book and use explosive bolts in the drive train. That way we can blow them if we need a tow. Tom
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Jun 22 2007, 01:38 AM) [snapback]466232[/snapback]</div> Bill, Thanks for that reminder but I STILL believe there is an engineering way around this issue. Maybe it would be too expensive or something but it would really be nice if you could put the car in neutral to move it (just because the 12 volt battery drained or failed). Mike PS - It would be moved only a few feet and at slow speeds up the flat bed tow truck. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Jun 22 2007, 10:51 AM) [snapback]466345[/snapback]</div> Now that's "thinking outside the box!"
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(findlj @ Jun 19 2007, 12:11 PM) [snapback]464719[/snapback]</div> Since we are talking about jump starting...I figured I would reiterate the fact that you must put the cables on the correct polarity unless you want a huge electrical expense with fuses and other troubleshooting issues. One OP said that it cost him near $5K because either himself or the providing vehicle owner got the leads backward. Do not let this be you. D Rock
