This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
2004 Toyota Prius with 23915 miles on it. Driving to work West on I-90 during rush hour engine stopped dead. I-90 is 8 lanes of traffic in spokane, wa. Had to have car towed to dealer for repairs. Problem was a failure in the electronic control unit. ECU had to be re-programed. Cause found by dealer: Found code P3191 & poaof codes. Found tbs #EG047-04. According to the service advisor, Toyota issued a technical bulletin covering this problem but stated there were too few failures to warant a recall. Being on an interstate during rush hour with traffic doing 70+ mph and having an engine failure could create a life threating situation very quickly. The last thing I asked the service advisor is if this will happen again? his response, "it shouldn't." that's reassuring.
New vehicle had master fault, check engine and other warning lights at odo reading 50, "repaired" faulted again. Replacement parts include cam sensors, computer boards, wiring harness and now "master computer board".
The vehicle intermittently stalled and decelerated while driving 35 mph due to computer failure. The vehicle stalled while on the highway. The service engine soon light had come on before and remained on after the vehicle failed.
The Prius shut down, stopped using gasoline power, while I was in the passing lane and traveling 70 miles per hour in moderate traffic on interstate 40 in nashville, tn. The red triangle, check engine, vsc and a few other warning signals illuminated. I managed to avoid being rear-ended, pulled to the side of the road using battery power, shut the battery power off, and consulted the owner's manual. Approximately 10-15 minutes prior, the add fuel light illuminated and the fuel indicator displayed a single bar. Having driven the vehicle for the past 8300 miles, my wife informed me that we had about 2 gallons of gas, and could easily travel another fifty miles. The temperature was near 90 degrees. I started the vehicle and chose to drive it off the interstate. We traveled 2.5 miles and coasted to the side of the road as the battery depleted. I managed to slowly drive the vehicle to a gas station and refueled. The fuel tank could only accommodate 8.1 gallons of fuel; it holds 11.7. once refueled, the warning signals disappeared after 30 seconds, and we drove home. My wife took the car to the dealer, joe heitz Toyota in clarksville, tn, the next day for an evaluation. The mechanic said that the computer indicated that the vehicle ran out of fuel. Since there obviously was fuel in the tank, I pressed the service manager for answers. By the end of the day and after consulting with Prius technical folks in California, the service manager said that the fuel bladder may have collapsed over the sending module thereby signaling the car's computer that it was out of gas, which caused it to shut down. He said Toyota is looking into the problem and provided a lame solution; refuel the vehicle before it gets too low. This is an unacceptable answer and I implore the NHTSA to investigate this potentially deadly anomaly. It is only a matter of time before someone is in a fatal accident because the vehicle shuts down while traveling at interstate speeds.
A. how long and at what speed was the consumer driving before the vehicle lost power" approximately 20 minutes: 35 mph. B. was the consumer accelerating, decelerating, or driving at a steady- state when the vehicle lost power? accelerating C. after the vehicle lost power, was the driver able to continue driving the vehicle? if so, how long and at what speed? no D.did any warning lights appear before and/or after the incident occurred? yes if so, describe the lights that were lit. Engine indicator and exclamation mark E. did the vehicle eventually stall and come to a stop? how long did this occur after the warning lights were lit? no; immediatley F. was the driver able to restart the vehicle right after it stalled" if so, how long did it take (# of attempts and/ or time '' ex: 3-4 times or 2-3 minutes)" no G. was the driver able to restart the vehicle after letting it sit awhile? if so, how long was this after the vehicle stalled? no H. was the vehicle towed? no I. what did the dealer say was wrong with the vehicle" the wiring would pulled from the vehicle J. did the dealer reprogram the ECU (electronic control unit) or any software" don''t know K. has the vehicle had special service campaigns 40A or 40 D performed on it prior to the incident" (note: The consumer would have received a letter in the mail notifying them to bring his or her vehicle in for repair. Campaign 40A or 40D addressed software issues with the Prius hybrid vehicle electronic control unit.) no L. has the vehicle had any problems since the repair?contact states he has experienced power failure in his 2005 Toyota Prius. The vehicle has not been repaired yet.
While driving at approximately 68 mph the vehicle began to loose speed. The consumer was able to pull the vehicle off to the side of the road and park. No warning light illuminated indicating there was a problem. The consumer had been driving for about an hour at 68 mph when the vehicle began to lose power. After the vehicle sat for about 1 1/2 minutes the vehicle operated as if nothing had happened. The consumer heard one beep, then the vehicle lost all power. The consumer pressed the accelerator but it did not respond. The service dealer could not find a problem.
Consumer was driving about 45 minutes / 65 mph when vehicle lost power/stalled. All warning lights were on. Consumer was able to restart vehicle after it stalled by letting it sit for a while. Vehicle had a history of accelerating and stalling.
Consumer's vehicle stalled while driving on the interstate, and put his life at risk. The car would not restart. Consumer bought an extended warranty from Toyota, and they had no record of that when calling them. Prior to the incident vehicle's consumer computer indicated that the vehicle was low on gas by a flashing green light, and the computer was indicating that the vehicle was getting its power from both the gas and electric engines. The vehicle's computer system did not recognize any commands. Prior incidents the car dieseled at stop lights sometimes for minute and consumer got 28mpg in the city, where the gas engine seemed to be running even on downhill stretches and when stopped.
I did not have a failure, but I had an experience that I think would be helpful to you and Toyota. My experience was accidently hitting my right knee lightly upward against the lever that is used to put the car in drive, park, referse and battery. I was traveling on the highway and was shifting my weight slightly to get more comfortable after I had been driving several hours. Within a few minutes, looking at the dashboard, I noticed the car was in the "B" mode which I guess is called battery. I shifted back into drive with no problem. However my thinking is that if someone did what I did (in the way of accidently tapping the shift lever with their knee) and did not notice that the car had shifted to battery, after driving for some time (X hours or minutes) the batteries that drive the electric motor/engine would run down to the point where the car would stop running and could not be restarted because the batteries were so run down. Also the engine would not start again because the batteries running the electric motor were not assisting in the drive of the car as designed. I noticed a note on a web site this evening that indicated the car would not run when the batteries were below a 20% charge. If this is correct, it would fit in with my theory. The shift lever needs to be harder to move so that accidental changes such as I experienced would be prevented. If this is too expensive, maybe a cheaper way to fix tghe problem would be for an alarm light or audible signal to go on when the battery propulsion had been going on too long unassisted by the gasoline motor. Maybe I'm all wet, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to let you know my thoughts.
Was driving home (approx 35 mph) when master warning light and vehicle stability control system warning light came on. Vehicle would not run on gasoline power and battery quicky ran down so car was not driveable. Vehicle had to be towed to dealership. Dealership advised it was a "computer problem"
Our Prius hybrid car engine suddenly stopped while driving on the interstate. We could not get it started and had to be towed to a Toyota dealer to have our car reprogramed.
While driving my 2005 Toyota Prius at about 40 mphin left lane on route 158 in kitty hawk, nc, the accelaratorl quit working, but neither engine quit. Was able to let car go into shopping center lot (this was dangerous situation and my 8 year old grandaughter was in the car). Electirc engine provided the power with out accelerator assistance. Had car towed to elixabeth city Toyota dealer. Mechanic took two days to find a wasy to get accelerator working. He said thatin conjuntion with Toyota corporate engineersover telephone he ran tests and many errors showed up not related to the accelerator. The problems sounded to me like it was in the computer's system. Mechanic was eventually told to shut down all computers and re-boot them one by one. I asked him about the cause and he said none was discovered. Car has not repeasted problem, but I remain concerned. Related this problem to my purcahse dealer (lustine Toyota in woodbridge va) assistant service manager. I was told they could not do anything unlesss the problem occurred again - this is not reassuring. And I aapeared to know more about the problem that they did or was willing to admit. I even gave them a copy of an artilce (the Japan times - 5/16/2005) that I found on the web referred to a wall street journal article about the problem. It said tha ttoyota Corp had sent letters to Prius owners telling them to take thier cars in for a software upgrade computer. No letter wa sever sent to me! and dealer did not react to letter.
The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. He states that while driving every warning light in the vehicle began to flash, then the car died. He turned the vehicle on again and it done the same thing. After this the vehicle would not start. He called Toyota, they sent someone with gas because the add fuel light was flashing, and they put gas in the vehicle. It still would not start. Towed to Toyota dealership, they looked at the car and could not get it to start. Someone kept pressing buttons and got the car to start, then, it started every time. The next time while driving with a full tank of gas it went from three quarters tank to gas down to empty instantly. He immediately pulled into a gas station to get gas and the maintenance light was flashing. He called Toyota back, and they would tow him to the nearest Toyota dealership. Instead he drove the vehicle home. Dealership said they did checked the fuel lines and it should be fine. Toyota denied all problems with the cars, the individual who towed consumer's vehicle told him that they had several people with this same problem. He decided to trade in the vehicle because he did not feel safe. It had several electrical problems such as, high beams came on by themselves, and door locks would not open occasionally. These incidents occurred on May 1, 2005, and he traded the vehicle in on May 16, 2005. It was in the shop three times.
Car was being driven on multi-lane city arterial in moderate traffic. To try to quickly avoid an obstructing vehicle ahead, driver rapidly depressed accelerator pedal to fullest extent while steering. Car then immediately, and without warning, lost all engine power and rolled to a stop. Two general warning lights on dashboard illuminated. Repeatedly depressing accelerator pedal produced no motion or other result. After engaging emergency flashers, only way to regain engine power was to shut off ignition, which required engaging parking circuit and depressing power on/off button, then after shutdown procedure was complete, again pressing power on/off button and waiting for hybrid system to energize. Warning lights again came on but car now responded to accelerator and driver was able to move to parking lane. This was the third time in the eight months of owning this new car that such a sudden shutdown occurred. After the first two times in late November-early December 2004, car had been taken to dealer for service and was returned to owners reported as fixed by replacing faulty accelerator sensor.
While car was going about 25 mph, it went from "drive" to "park". it stopped abruptly. Could not get car back in drive except momentarily. The car's electric system cycled on and off on a 16 to 20 second period. That is, it would be on and in park and then shut off momentarily every 18 seconds. It continuted doing this for about 10 minutes when I stopped monoriting it. I had the car towed to a Toyota dealer. When it was examined about 2 hours after the incident, it worked fine and there was no computer feedback on the problem. They didn't know what happened or what to do. They said to bring it back when the problem happened again. This could be a life threatening glitch if it occured at freeway speeds in traffic. I believe Toyota should put all cars that this has happened to on the sidelines until they find out what the problem is and then come up with a fix. Because of the real possibility of injuries, NHTSA should start an investigation and start pushing Toyota to take this seriously.
On March 26,2005, I was driving home from temple. Suddenly, my car lose power. All panel lights lighted up. I pushed the gas paddle, but the engine would not respond. I turned off the power then turned back on, but I can only shift to neutral. All panel lights stay on. I use my insurance to call a tow truck to tow my car to wonderie Toyota. The service department told me that they reprogramed the computer. The car works after reprogram and they could not find anything wrong with it. On April 6,2005 in the morning, I turn on the power. All the panel lights stay on and I can't shift. I can only shift to neutral. After about 15 minutes, I got off the car and open the car hood. I can't see anything. I removed my hand which holding the hood so the hood drop hard on to the car. I went back in the car. The car start could run again. I don't know if the hood drop hard on the car has anything to do with it or not. I took my car back to wonderie Toyota, the service representive did not want to take my car in. I told him that I won't take my car back without checking. I read the comments on the receipt after I pick up my car. The mechanic did not know what was wrong with my car. He did not do anyhting.
Dt consumer states while driving his vehicle, it completely stalled in traffic. The check engine light along with a few other lights on the dash illuminated while the vehicle was stalling.
I was driving my 2005 Toyota Prius at about 45 mph when the vehicle went dead. The battery charge indicator went to zero, the engine warning light came on, the master warning light came on, the vehicle stability control warning light came on. I pulled to the side of the road. At first the vehicle would not shut off. After several attempts the vehicle shut down. I restarted the vehicle, and with the engine service light on was able to get it first home, then to a Toyota dealer. The dealer said the vehicle needed an "upgrade" to its software and reprogrammed the ECU. ( at no charge to me as the vehicle is still under warranty). If an upgrade was available and required, I feel I should have been notified so that I and my wife were not put at risk.
- Columbus, GA, USA
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- Post Falls, ID, USA