The entire computer whose sole function is to display the speed, the odometer and the fuel level will fail intermittently. The problem seems to occur after a warm day followed by a cool night. The next morning, the computer will not boot up like all the other computer controls on the Prius, although the car can still be driven, it has no speedometer and no fuel gauge. All miles driven are not recorded until the computer suddenly boots up while driving. Intermittently, when the computer suddenly boots while driving, lots of error lights will appear and an alarm will sound, then the error lights go out and and the car begins to work normally again. This problem is well known to Toyota and I have read that if pressed, Toyota may agree to replace the computer, since they know of the problem but chose not to recall the vehicle.

When the start button on my Prius was pressed the dashboard did not light up. The car was running though and I was able to drive. This is possibly connected with other problems; the car engine did not turn off when the button was pressed again. After reading the manual a few times over and finding no solution why the car would not stop running, I finally used my computer knowledge. When nothing works on computer, press and hold the start/off button for 5 seconds. This will shut computer off on a deeper level. I pressed the Prius start/off button for 5 second. It worked.

I purchased the Prius March 2008. Over the past 11 months, at various times, when starting the car, I have no dash display, other than on the far right hand side, where it says airbag. The whole dash is black, so I don't know how fast I am going, cannot tell how much gas I have. Also, when this occurs, the backup camera doesn't work. I have taken the car in several times, but the problems will not occur when it is in the shop. In the past few months, another problem developed. In addition to having no dash display, when turning the car off, the gas motor will turn off, but the electrical engine will not turn off. It requires repeated backing up, and pulling forward, and pushing the power button. The problems usually occur in the morning,when I am unable to take the car to the shop. On 2/18 it happened as I was leaving work, and I was able to take it by the dealer and show them the problems. It is currently in the shop being worked on. I was happy to finally be able to show them the problem, because they had acted as if I were making up the whole thing. According to them, I am the only person to complain of these problems. I find it hard to believe no one else has experienced this.