Throttle malfunction - 2008 Toyota Prius. Driving 50-55 M/H on North 280 near millbrae, ca in heavy rain. Vehicle accelerated without pressing the gas pedal. Engine revved 3 times in succession (sounded like: Vroom, vroom, vroom) while accelerating to 65 M/H. all this time I was stepping on the breaks. Acceleration eventually stopped went back to normal after a few minutes. I drove the car directly to the nearest Toyota dealership in daly city but was told that there was no problem with the car. This malfunction only occurred once.

- Campbell, CA, USA

Driving home from church July 5, 2009 the beach traffic was bumper to bumper. Stop and go traffic. I was stopped behind an SUV. The traffic started to move and my Prius bolted forward into the SUV which in turn pushed it into another SUV. My car was totaled. The engine was pushed all the way back into the front seat. This should have been just a fender bender. No one was injured.

- Malibu, CA, USA

Just bought brand new 2008 Prius. Owner's manual claims that with just one bar showing on fuel gauge there would be 3.0 gal. Or less in fuel bladder. The fuel gauge is totally unreliable based on these results: 10 bars (full fillup) got 200 miles to 9 bars -- 3 bars left got 100 miles to 2 bars -- 2 bars left got 20 miles to 1 bar -- 1 bar left got only 5 miles before car came to a stop and would not restart --. the hybrid battery gauge showed 0 charge. After putting in 2.5 gal. The fuel gauge showed 2 bars. Engine started and I could drive 1.25 miles to a gas station. This problem occurred on I-40 at 9:00 pm in New Mexico. We were very lucky that there was a gas station nearby, because there are many stretches of I-40 where there is no gas station for 20-40 miles. There have been many complaints about both the unreliable fuel gauge and the bladder type fuel tank. The Toyota dealer never mentioned these defects, nor does the owner's manual.

- San Francisco, CA, USA