Steering locking on start-up.

[Hugh R]

Weird and quite alarming thing happened this afternoon after locking and parking the car and going for a walk. Returned and unlocked: but trying to start car in the normal way the steering simply locked, complete with locked wheel sign on dash, plus amongst all the other signs illuminated was the battery (certainly fully charged anyway). Then dashboard asked for foot on brake while pressing start, which of course is the normal way to start the car (which I had just done.)  Did this but nothing changed.  Turned off, turned on, same thing with same request.   Waited, undid and refastened safety belts, turned on, same thing, same repeated request.  Turned off and all was repeated. Everything just locked up.
Before phoning Honda Assist decided to get out of car, lock it and unlock it and get in again.  Whereupon everything was normal. 
Anyone any ideas?
One small thing I did on first leaving the car was something (I think) I have not done before, which was to put the parking brake on after everything had been turned off.  Would this have started the problem?
Certainly rather frightening and something I don't want to happen again.

[nowster]

You can't normally turn off without it being in Park.

[Steve_M]

Was this the meter warning you got?

[Hugh R]

You can't normally turn off without it being in Park.

It wouldn't get out of park at any time!

[Hugh R]

Was this the meter warning you got?

No. It was the 'brake pedal + arrow to start button' sign.

[sportse]

Do you have a voltmeter? Maybe the battery had/is failing and can't hold a full charge anymore.

I used to have one that plugged in to the cigarette lighter socket so you could see the voltage in accessory mode and also the reading when fully powered up.

The problem with hybrids is you don't get the normal warning signs of a battery going bad - all they have to do is boot up the computers.

A low voltage can cause all sorts of apparent electrical issues, maybe there wasn't enough power to fully run the start up sequence and unlock the wheel lock?

It's strange it worked after the car was locked and unlocked though.

[Kremmen]

Page 128 of the online manual has a few similar.

They are linked to trying to change the parking brake without pressing the brake pedal.

Similar but not identical.

[Hugh R]

Yes I have a volt meter plugged into the cigarette lighter which registered 11.4 before start-up. Less than 500 miles on clock so unlikely it's battery I think. 
But does anyone know/remember if the red battery icon lights up on first turning on before ignition? As far as I remember it stayed on throughout the incident, even if engine was running or not.
But of course it started with no problem after exiting and re-trying.

[Hugh R]

Page 128 of the online manual has a few similar.

They are linked to trying to change the parking brake without pressing the brake pedal.

Similar but not identical.

Could well be, so thanks for that. I may well have confused the car - and I think the red handbrake light never went out throughout the problem - can't be sure as in a semi-panic!

[Lord Voltermore]

11.4 volts indicates a flat battery  (unless that was a typo )  .  Just checked mine on a  frosty morning and its 12.4 volts.   A fully charged battery should read. 12.6 volts, but I'm not unduly concerned with 12.4 v  The car had a 50 mile trip yesterday.

If yours really is 11.4 volts that may explain the  gremlins.  .But the battery may not be faulty.   Its relatively small , and has recently spent 2 months idle on a ship from Japan.   If your 500 miles has been mostly short ,cold, journeys  it may simply not have had opportunity to get a decent charge.   

Although the car can charge the high voltage battery amazingly quickly due to different technology and  cooling fans etc, that doesnt mean the 12 volt  battery is also charged super fast.  There is a limit to how many charging amps a conventional lead acid battery  can take.

[Pine]

Anything less than 12.2v the battery needs charging.

[Kremmen]

If mine stands for more than 14 days then it gets a CTEK

[BestwoodRoadie]

Weird and quite alarming thing happened this afternoon after locking and parking the car and going for a walk. Returned and unlocked: but trying to start car in the normal way the steering simply locked, complete with locked wheel sign on dash, plus amongst all the other signs illuminated was the battery (certainly fully charged anyway). Then dashboard asked for foot on brake while pressing start, which of course is the normal way to start the car (which I had just done.)  Did this but nothing changed.  Turned off, turned on, same thing with same request.   Waited, undid and refastened safety belts, turned on, same thing, same repeated request.  Turned off and all was repeated. Everything just locked up.
Before phoning Honda Assist decided to get out of car, lock it and unlock it and get in again.  Whereupon everything was normal. 
Anyone any ideas?
One small thing I did on first leaving the car was something (I think) I have not done before, which was to put the parking brake on after everything had been turned off.  Would this have started the problem?
Certainly rather frightening and something I don't want to happen again.

If it help I had my new jazz in June 21, the battery failed me 3 times up to August ( recovery on all occasions) Vertu kept charging it said it was fine, on the 4 time (Recovery again) I insisted that they put on another battery, they did & it’s been no problem since.
My car had been in the showroom I don’t know how long but was told it was due to it being there & people pressing stuff with no engine running at all till I got it.
Just a thought

[Karoq]

Since most of my journeys are short cold urban ones, I may need to employ my Draper 'Jump box'. Good job I've got one!
I also use a plug in voltmeter all the time on al my cars. I agree with the comments above re voltages. when running it shows 14.6v.

[sportse]

One of the PDI items dealers are supposed to do is run a battery tester on the battery (usually a midtronic) and if it says it needs charged then to charge it up fully on a charger, or replace if it says it’s bad.

I doubt many do it though, they just assume as it’s a new car it should be fine.