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.
Headlight intermittently shuts off. It will later come back on again. Same with a tail-light. There are lots of complaints about this please come up with a solution. It seems to be an extremely expensive fix at a dealership due to defective parts.
Combination meter stopped working in cold weather. Know problem for Toyota and a very dangerous one. They did one repair and warranty extension but vehicles now hitting higher miliage are having issues and it is documented by Toyota in a warranty bullentin no. Pol12-05 from Toyota
When vehicle is started no dash lights for fuel gage, speedometer, odometer inoperable due to faulty combination meter. No recall just extended warranty that Toyota will not replace.
I believe its a glitch in the car's computer. At unpredictable and intermittent intervals the electronic heads up display does not operate. This leaves me with no speedomoeter, no fuel level indicator, no bright or dim indicator for the headlights, and the cruise control does not work. During the incidents the car also might not respond to the power off button, so it keeps running. This problem might last for a day or two and then it starts to work again.
- Wasilla, AK, USA
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Afternoon 07/11/17 while driving downhill @ 50 mph my 2006 Toyota Prius turned off- no steering, exterior lights, dash/computer lights, radio- except for front interior dome light. No warning lights prior to or after car turned off. I was able to brake (very stiff brakes) & pull over. Replaced 2015 12V battery hoping for quick fix. Car still would not turn on, could not be towed on flat bad for fear of damaging transmission. Car was towed to closest mechanic. On 07/12/17 independent mechanic said both coolant pumps failed and the leaking shorted a fuse and turned off the car. Every time they attempted to replace fuse it would pop fuse again. Mechanic replaced water pump (including coolant/antifreeze) & inverter electric pump (including inverter cooler water) & changed auto transmission fluid & filter ($1,115). Early morning 07/14/17 dash display would not light up when car was turned on- no speedometer, odometer, gas gauge, reverse camera. (happened couple of times in past but could not duplicate for dealer.) while driving to Toyota dealer I noticed computer screen stuck @ 48 mpg & 61 miles driven, but never increased miles as I drove 18 miles or updated mpg calculation. Refused to turn off car until someone from Toyota dealer looked @ dash to verify condition. Toyota dealer says combo meter (combination meter) failure, which is not recall but "campaign" that expired & repair costs $1,111. Motherboard part can take up to 3 weeks but car cannot be driven while Toyota "burns" my computer's information into new computer part. Toyota dealer provided loaner car until repair is completed. On 07/14/17 called Toyota & filed complaint about water pump & combo meter. Toyota says hybrid electric water pump campaign did not affect my VIN, which I do not believe. Toyota says combination meter campaign expired for my VIN. Pending call back from Toyota at this time.
Purchased 2006 Toyota Prius used on Aug 17, 2013 (61,500 miles). Within a month I was pulled over by police for passenger side headlight out while driving at night, but when headlamps are turned off and on again the headlight came back on, and the police officer thought he was crazy so he just issued a warning. The headlight continued to go out intermittently and I replaced the bulbs myself in November 2013 (philips hid headlight bulbs $95). The headlight still went out intermittently and I finally replaced both headlight assemblies in July 2016 by an independent mechanic (approximately $1000 at 143,000 miles). Passenger side headlight still goes out intermittently. NHTSA launched a probe in April 2009, but then dropped the investigation after Toyota said it would initiate a "consumer service campaign" to address the issue. Then there was a class action settlement in 2011, all of which the previous car owner missed. Toyota uses "campaigns" to avoid recalls. Toyota's website (https://www.Toyota.com/recall) does not list previous "campaigns" related to the VIN so buying the car used I had no way of knowing of previous "campaigns" that still needed to be addressed. Upon purchasing in August 2013 I took the car to a Toyota dealership in san marcos, tx for a steering wheel recall but was not alerted to any other recalls or "campaigns" at that time.
Car was brought to Toyota of hollywood, Florida for a new battery. When it was returned none of the dashboard was working: No speedometer, no gear shift indicator, no fuel gauge, no engine warning lights, no backup indicator beeper. Additionally it takes many tries over minutes to turn the car off and it locks the rear hatch which cannot be opened with the inside door unlock button. Obviously this is a dangerous and hazardous situation which I expected that the dealer and manufacturer, Toyota, would take care of immediately. They claim that the car is out of warranty and won't fix it. It should be part of a vehicle safety recall.
The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the instrumen panel failed causing the contact to be able to view the reading levels. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the combo meter failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer advised that the instrument panel warrenty repair had expired and that the repairs would be at the contacts expense. The failure mileage was 150,000.
The headlights flicker and then go out. It is necessary to turn off all lights and then turn them back on. The same thing happens after a short period of time. This happens when the car is moving and I have been pulled over because I was unaware that the lights were out while driving in the city.
2006 Prius multifunction display defects, manufactuer wants $8,000 to repair. The mfd controls ac distribution. It affects my health. I have a skin condition, that requires cooling of my legs. The air will come on, but only from dash area, there is no other control method, because touch screen does not work. Also window defroster is inopperalble, from screen. There is a defroster button on steering wheel, it works only part of the time. I have had car into dealership 3 seprate times (at 2 different locations) they can not find the problem with steering wheel defrost buttom. I was told, there is no diagnostics for the electrical on this vehicle, the other dealership, just said " the tech found out defroster problem, is somewhere under here" as he reached under the dash area. The touch doesn't work at anytime, parked or going down the road. $8,000 dollars for this repair is way out of my reach. From what I understand it is a widespread problem, or a bad design. The defrost comtrol on steering wheel will come on/off when I hit a bump in the road or a rough railroad crossing. Driving without proper defrosting is very dangerous.
The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. While driving 45 mph, all the gauges, meters, and lights on the instrument cluster failed to function. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 142,000.
Without warning the dashboard stopped working. The car was stopped and power button was pushed at the time when fact occurred in a very isolated place with no cell phone service an little chance of any other car passing by. The car does not display anymore speed, mileage, fuel level and gearbox position, although the car was otherwise driveable. Warning lights are not working anymore also. Backup camera and lights also stopped working. Car also does not turn off most of time (the power button might work at random with some insistence). According to information gathered this could have been caused by a faulty combination meter, which Toyota was servicing for free for some time owing to a high failure rate.
Toyota is aware of a widespread issue regarding the electric dashboard going out. They have refused to replace mine due to it being past the "time window". this should be a safety recall. Drivers are unable to determine if there are any warning lights, what the fuel tank reads, mileage, or any other information. This affects more than just the 2006 model, as well.
On very cold mornings the combination meter (speedometer and dash lights) fail to come on. This first began in December 2014 shortly after having the ice replaced at the dealer, but it has been very intermittent. A few tries and the problem usually corrects itself. It is rarely very cold here so getting it to repeat the problem is difficult. Toyota issued an extended warranty on the known defect but it expired 4 months ago and I was never notified of the warranty extension. Toyota is aware that there is a defect. When this happens, the car will drive but there is no speedometer or fuel gauge and the odometer ceases to work. I did not take the car to the dealer last winter because for one thing I couldn't make it repeat the problem and also because I suffered a grand mal seizure and was unable to drive the car for a year. Now I can drive again and everything has been fine until now that it is winter again. Toyota claims they notified me of this warranty extension but I never received a letter from them. I think it is a dangerous and known defect that should be repaired by Toyota. I do not like driving without instruments!
The car was at a stop light when all the dashboard lights went out (nightime). When I tried to turn the vehicle off, the car would not shut down. This is a known problem to Toyota especially on high mileage vehicles. The car has 217,000 miles (original owner). Toyota issued T-sb-0172-09 as a "warranty enhancement program" in order to avoid an official recall of the problem. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline by 3 months.
The insturment cluster ( speedometer, backup camera, etc) failed one night. A system reset restored things the next day, but now it has started to fail routinely. This is a safety issue Y incapacitating the speedometer and the backup comera. Toyota states they have extended the warranty once and will not fix it, even though this car has never had this issue before. The car has 60,000 miles. The car also fails to turn off leaving a major potential for an unavoidable accident.
The combination meter on my 2006 Prius has an intermittent electrical short. This results in the dashboard lights going out while the car is moving. This problem with the electrical system on the Prius can result in the brakes on the car failing. In addition the car often continues to stay on after we turn it off. This is also a safety hazard. Toyota has refused our request to replace the defective combination meter, even though this is a widespread problem.
While driving, the instrument panel combination meter that displays the vehicle speed and other information went blank. After pulling over car, I tried to turn it off using the power button but it would not turn off. After a few tries, I held down power button for 5 seconds and it finally did go to accessory mode, but did not turn off altogether. It took several presses of the button to finally get the car to shut off. I talked to my local Toyota service center who told me that this is a known issue and Toyota extended the warranty for the combination meter to 9 years (T-sb-0172-09). Unfortunately, I was 4 months past the 9 year mark, so it would cost me $1500 to replace the part. I have since talked to two other people I know who have the same model Prius and they have had the same issue in the past year, one of which was replaced under warranty as he had the problem before the 9 year mark. The other was in the same situation as me as it happened after the 9 year mark. An online search shows that this is becoming a very common issue and happening to many just after the 9 year warranty expires, resulting in a lot of upset owners. I did check my files and see that a warranty enhancement notice was sent to me a couple of years ago that states that this issue has been reported by a limited number of owners and that if it does has happened to my car, I did not need to take action at this time. In hindsight, I should not have followed the instructions and instead took my car in and insisted on a warranty repair. I believe that this is a serious safety issue that should be handled as a recall rather than with a warranty enhancement with a limited warranty period. The car has less than 34000 miles on it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Chelsea, MI, USA