What does this turtle icon stand for?

"What does this turtle icon stand for?"<br><br>It means that Rabbits will be able to pass you on the freeway for a short period... usually less than 5 minutes... but that, because you have a Prius, you will be the Winner in the end!<br><br>I believe that the instruction manual puts it slightly differently... and adds a cautionary warning about operating the vehicle while this condition exists.

The Turtle light is explained on p. 94 of my old 2001 manual.<br><br>Basically, it's a warning light stating that the hybrid battery is in some diminished condition, so your available power will be limited. drive without hard acceleration, or pull over from that big mountain that you're climbing, or stop driving in reverse for that long distance, to allow the battery to warm up/cool down/recharge.<br><br>The turtle light will come on briefly when you start up the Prius, but should go off quickly if all is OK.<br><br>The reviews/test drive reports of the Japanese-style Prius (pre-North-American release), which had a smaller battery and engine, had several reports of the Turtle coming on, mainly on long uphills and such battery-draining activities.<br><br>Many people have gone up long mountain ranges and had the electric assist cut out on them, and not gotten the Turtle (where it's expected). The only reports of a US Turtle sighting have been when the Prius sits outside long in really cold temps (&lt;20F for a long time), and I think I recall one or two reports in 110+F degree desert driving. It'll take the Prius a bit longer to give you the READY light in this instance.

The turtle icon means you live in South Dakota :-)<br><br>Actually, it means the battery is too cold to deliver full power, so you should take it easy until it has a chance to warm itself up.<br><br>In the old (pre-2001) Japanese Prius, it would also light if you ran the battery down while climbing mountains. Since the 2001+ Prius has a bigger engine, this isn't a problem, so they no longer use the turtle to indicate low battery power.<br><br>Basically, it really is better for the battery if you don't push it while cold. But there's no danger of harming the battery when it gets drained climbing a mountain. So the turtle light is only used where there's a reason for the driver to change behavior.<br><br>The turtle will come on if you're in reverse with a low battery since the engine cannot charge the battery if you're driving aggresively in reverse.<br><br>Robert Snyder<br>NJ-PIKACHU<br><br>P.S. It takes REALLY serious mountain climbing to drain the 2001+ Prius battery. The prior version was much easier to drain.

Thanks for all the info.

Thanks for replying.<br><br>We're having a warming trend, it will be above 25 degrees for a couple of days this week. :)