The car suddenly lost power without any warning while driving 65+ mph on the freeway. The check hybrid warning light came on. The car became dangerously unresponsive, luckily we were near an exit and were able to coast to safety. The hybrid system was expecting information from the accelerator, and when it doesn't receive it, either the gas engine, or the electric engine, or both engines fail to operate. Toyota has service bulletin 2001 Toyota Prius unknown or other service bulletin 117006 action number: 635861 service bulletin number: 117006... report date: Sep 12, 2002 component: Unknown or other.... summary: Some vehicles may exhibit a master, hybrid and malfunction indicator warning light on with diagnostic trouble code P1120.,,, P1120 Toyota description accelerator pedal position sensor is mounted on the throttle body and it has the 2 sensors to detects the accelerator position and a malfunction of the accelerator position. The accelerator pedal position sensor is connected with the accelerator pedal by the accelerator wire. The ECM judges the current opening angle of the accelerator pedal from these sensor signal inputs and it controls the throttle motor based on these signals. If the the P1120 code is stored, the ECM shuts down the power for the throttle motor and the magnetic clutch, and the throttle valve is fully closed by the return spring. However, the opening angle of the throttle valve can be controlled by the accelerator pedal through the throttle cable. I have since learned that the accelerator sensor assembly is probably at fault, which is a high cost item $300 dollars or more which Toyota would balk at replacing in a recall. This happened once before, but I don't recall the date.....updated 08/24/15

- San Jose, CA, USA

2001 Toyota Prius sudden loss of power at highway speeds three incidents late Aug 2006 first week Oct 2006 second week Oct 2006 in all cases vehicle will not start for 15 minutes but then runs normally. Brought to dealer after first incident and they completed a recall replacement of crankshaft position sensor. Brought to dealer after third incident they have been unable to diagnoses problem or reproduce after 90 miles test driving. Call to Toyota customer service line revealed Toyota has no central point to collect vehicle safety problems when specifically asked if Toyota was interested in discovering the safety problem in my vehicle, the answer was "no" I have been reassured by Toyota that the crankshaft position sensor replacement was performed properly there is no software problem with 2001 Prius similar to the 2004 Prius problem which resulted kin sudden loss of power and lead to recall action. They are unaware of any problem similar to mine with 2001 Prius.

- Lake Oswego, OR, USA