{"id":15272,"date":"2011-05-22T09:44:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T13:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=15272"},"modified":"2011-05-22T09:47:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T13:47:24","slug":"15272","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/15272\/","title":{"rendered":"An Adventure With My Toyota Prius Not Starting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m in my new sitting room drinking hot ginger tea and watching two little brown bunnies having breakfast in the back yard. \u00a0I’d gotten up early and was going to drive to the beach for a surf check, then opened the garage door and was reminded my Toyota Prius got towed yesterday. \u00a0 Saturday\u00a0I had quite the adventure with it not starting. \u00a0I was going to go banjo shopping with Bryan Tilford<\/a> and I put the key in the ignition and… nothing. \u00a0It was like a dream sequence where you do all the right things but nothing works as it should. \u00a0I checked with Byran and he assured me I was awake.<\/p>\n

I did what anyone else would do in that situation. \u00a0I called my buddy\u00a0Bo Frazer<\/a>,\u00a0also a Prius owner, and asked him what he thought it might be. \u00a0He said he didn’t know but it sounded as though the vehicle’s theft detection was in effect and wasn’t recognizing my key. \u00a0He suggested the key battery might be dead, so we drove to Walgreens to buy the CR2032 battery and installed it. \u00a0No change. \u00a0Hmmm.<\/p>\n

Then I gave in and pulled out the Owner’s Manual to see what the warning lights meant. \u00a0One was the malfunction indicator light, and the other was the hybrid vehicle immobilizer\/theft deterrent system indicator light. \u00a0So Bo was right! \u00a0I called Toyota and told them which lights were on and that the car wouldn’t start. \u00a0They suggested I call Jack’s Wrecking and get it towed in. \u00a0 I called Jack’s and 90 minutes later he had my car on his magic hydraulic lift truck and gone.<\/p>\n

I figured it was the perfect time for Toyota to do the recall work on the floor mats and water pump that I’ve postponed the past year. \u00a0While we waited, we unloaded all personal items from the car, including the 40 stacks of the June Horizons Magazine<\/a> I just got in. \u00a0I removed cds, glasses, phone chargers, incense, books, hats, jackets, hand puppets and dismantled the dashboard altar. \u00a0Bryan reminded me I didn’t have to go through items and decide what to keep and what to purge, I just had to dump it in a box and get it out of the car. \u00a0Good reminder and saved me time as well.<\/p>\n

An hour later, Rene from Toyota called and I need a new 12 volt gel battery (not the hybrid battery,) then they can check it for the warranty recall work on Monday. \u00a0The battery lasted me almost 60,000 miles! \u00a0She said they’d have the car done by lunchtime for $305.75. Rene said they’d also clean the inside and wash it. \u00a0Heck I would have paid $300 just to wash the lovebugs off. \u00a0It’s like I get a free battery.<\/p>\n

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing things I could do without my car and without my computer, since Chuck was putting a new hard drive in it. \u00a0It reminded me that even when “bad” things happen to me, they aren’t that bad. \u00a0I have several out of town trips to make next week and I could have gotten stranded hours out of town. \u00a0It’s nice to know I vibe in a place that lets me be with the right people at the right time for it all to be just a fun adventure and not a disaster.<\/p>\n

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