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Toyota Prius: Problems & Solutions
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http://www.carlist.com/wabc_radio/200505/200505.html
(this is the audio from ABC radio)
and there was a story called the prius is stalling
http://www.carlist.com/wabc_radio/200505/200505.html
"The Prius is a full-hybrid vehicle which means it can run on either gasoline or electric power or both."
The Prius cannot run on Gasoline alone. It either runs on both (charging the electric traction battery while running the engine and electric motors), or for short periods on electric only.
The first time I had to rent a car and I then changed dealers.....and with the current dealer (who have given excellent service) there was no rental available, tho one day of a rental was covered. This in no way makes up for the three hours of waiting and being unable to keep appointments and then having to pick up the car the next morning.
Can we be certain that the dealer notifies Toyota to correct the problem? Might be a little adjustment and reprogramming to the service department, but they are not behind the wheel whern it happens! We have loved this car, but this is both disappointing and dangerous. Thanks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_bi_ge/toyota_investigation
Regulators plan to conduct investigation over engine stalling.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/01/Autos/toyota_prius/
any thoughts?
"Meatier" tires will probably lower your fuel economy due to higher rolling resistance. "Raising the car" might entail having to purchase larger diameter wheels to accommodate larger diameter tires. Aside from the expense, you will screw up your odometer and speedometer readings since larger diameter tires will make fewer revolutions per mile.
What you need, is to get Mayor Bloomberg to fill more potholes faster.
1) When I am cruising at a constant speed, whether it's 35 on a surface street or 65 on the freeway, the electric motor begins kicking on and off every 1-2 seconds, and continues to do so until I either accelerate or decelerate. It seems to mostly be switching between charging the battery and powering the drive train. I would expect some on-and-off to occur, but at that rapid rate it seems abnormal, and I'm wondering if there may be a software bug. Each switch is accompanied by a slight forward or backward tug of the car, which makes for a slightly jerky ride. Of course the dealer tells me it's normal. What do you think?
2) The steering has always been "loose". I mostly notice it on the freeway where it will suddenly pull slightly to the right or left, requiring constant adjustment to keep a straight course. It feels like I'm constantly driving in very windy conditions, with the car being buffeted around. It also had a severe pull to the left when I first drove it, which an alignment seemed to have fixed, but now I am starting to see again.
These two issues combined make for a very unsteady ride on the freeway, almost to the point of feeling unsafe. I've been to the dealer twice and they insist it is all normal behavior.
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
1. When I'm driving on the freeway, going, say, 45-65 mph, I sometimes feel a sort of pulsing of the power, as if I've left the brake on a little. It's hard to describe, but it's rather like the car is fighting me a bit as I try to maintain speed (it's not when I'm accelerating, it's when I'm just driving at a more or less constant speed). Has anyone else had this experience? If so, what might be the cause?
2. We've had a few warm days here and I've been using the air conditioner. I notice, sometimes, that after the air conditioner has been on for several miles, the air in the car smells like dirty socks. I always turn off the air conditioner before I shut off the car. I've read postings on other sites that suggest the problem might be using recirculated air instead of outside air when I'm running it. I admit it: I was trying to save fuel.
Should I be using outside air until the air in the cabin cools, and then shut it off and just recirculate the air? I hope the smell dries up and disappears without my having to spend money on repairs.
I am not sure why they replaced the last 2 computers.
I am trying to invoke the lemon law right now. They need me to take the car in again on Wednesday to tell me if I get a new one. I will ask them to check the driver this time. Thanks for the advice.
I am moving to Florida with my family and am thinking of purchasing a Prius.
1st question, has anyone actually received the tax rebate for the Prius? (www.fueleconomy.gov)
2nd, Should I buy and 05 or 06 model? When do the 06 models come out?
3rd,is there any reported problems in warmer temperatures.
4th, is the navigation system worth the bucks?
Regards
The $2000 tax rebate is actually a tax credit off your taxable income. I think you can still take it if you take delivery of a Prius in 2005.
I live in Connecticut and, yes in hot weather when you use the airconditioner you will see a drop in mileage.
I love the car and have had no problems with it. Its quiet, comfortable and I'vr averaged over 50 miles to the gallon so far. I've got 5000 miles on the car .
The Nav system in the Prius (I have an 05 package 6) is not as easy to use as those found on a Honda or Acura (and some Chryslers). The Alpine system Honda/Acura uses is very intuitive and the voice control seems to work (My Acura has only a touch screen Nav, but I have tried the voice activated ones on test drives. Looks and works like my system, but with vice activation added).
By comparison, the system on my Prius is a poor second. It is counter intuitive and requires significantly more effort to program, AND the voice activation must have been programmed in a different language (it does not understand what my wife or I say).
The voice control in my Prius for climate control and radio work okay, but seems useless for the Nav system. We also find having to stop the car to program in a new destination using the touch screen frustrating, though because of the clumsy interface I would not recommend a driver try to reprogram on the fly (but why not a passenger?)
Is it worth the cost? Maybe. There are portable Nav systems that work at least as well as the one in the Prius and they may cost less too. The screens are not as large and you will not have a built-in look. While we find the Nav in our MDX very easy to use, so much so we use it a lot around town too (being able to reprogram on the fly is a big plus), the Nav in our Prius will also do the same job, but not worth the extra effort required.
Maybe with more time, the Prius Nav system will not seem so counter intuitive (and maybe there will be a fix so the voice activation works as well as it does for other functions). We use our Nav systems a lot, so, to us they are worth the cost, even the crummy one (to me) in the Prius.
.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=104549,00.html
No.
No, unless you are using a CNG or pure electric vehicle.
There won't be a recall; this TSB is a year old. It just happened that your car had not been fixed yet.
Obviously, the 2006 models are out already, since I'm driving one. I think the 2004-2006 Prius models are pretty identical, although some of the software (recall) issues may be fixed on the newer models. We've never had any problems with any of our hybrids that have been mentioned here, although we have had about 3 factory campaigns on the 2001, 2 on the 2004 so far. A few weeks back I took the 2001 in for a regular servicing and they replaced the NiMH battery and the computer on it for a campaign, although I had not had any problems with either one. Didn't cost me a cent.
Having never used any other nav systems, I don't know if Toyota OE ones are any better or worse in comparison, but I love them. I'm a little "directionally dysfunctional", so I find it handy to use, even in town here. Sometimes there are new neighborhoods that are not on the map yet, so it shows on the screen that I'm out driving in a field somewhere, but new software upgrades seem to solve that.
We've driven the 2004 Prius a lot in Phoenix and never had any problems relating to the heat (but it's a DRY heat:). Using the A/C at full blast seems to effect the mileage quite a bit, but that happens in any car.
We've gotten a pretty reasonable average of about 40mpg in the 2001, about 60mpg in the 2004 and so far about 37mpg in the new Highlander (only have about 450 miles on it). And that's been quite a bit of mountain driving with the A/C on.
Here we go again. It is a tax deduction, not a credit, on the federal taxes for 2004. I can't speak to 2001. People are getting confused on this issue, but the IRS rules for 2004 are clear - deduction, not credit.
There is NO WAY a steering rack should completely fail on a 39 1/2 month old vehicle with 27k on it!
I've heard rumors of warranty extensions on steering racks on Priuses, but have found nothing on Toyota's pay-per-use TIS site. No TSB's, campaigns, etc...
Can anyone help me find him some ammo to get some relief? I love Toyotas, and really believe they will stand behind this if I can get to the right people.
Thanks!
Just wondered what you paid for your Highlander. I have a Prius which I just got. I had leather... no GSP or anything and paid out the door about $24.599 I didn't think that the SUV got as good mileage as you indicate you are getting. Is that around town or highway. Air or no air.
Thank you
mltsp
jdole1, Nice job and I'm glad you're enjoying your new highlander.
Ken
We were driving slowly through a school parking lot on pure electric when we got the red exclaimation point, yellow VSC and check engine. After that it seemed that the gas engine wouldn't kick on but it ran fine on electric. Being a software engineer who works with embedded systems, I figured time to reboot.
So we pulled over and hit the power button, counted to ten and turned it back on. The red exclaimation was still on, but now the gas engine kicked back in to charge the battery which had gotten pretty low. We drove home and I hit the internet. After trying the gas cap (nice and tight), I hit the power button and the red exclaimation was gone! Only the orange check engine light was still on. I drove it around the block to get one more drive cycle, Then power cycled for one more "drive cycle" and lo and behold, no more alert icons!
Hopefully it will be another 15,000 miles before the next software gremlin appears. And now we know rebooting 3 times is the cure, I don't mind.
I suspect there is a way to get the fault code to display on the prius display, but I haven't found it yet. Seems a shame to have to go out and buy some scan tool to get info that could easily be shown on the standard prius display.
:shades:
The FIL found a letter buried in his Prius paperwork that indicates the steering rack warranty is five years for his car.
The bad news? He paid for the repair Friday, found the letter over the weekend, and showed it to the dealership on Monday. Toyota of Wallingford, CT refuses to refund his money, even though they agree this is a warranty repair. I feel that they should have KNOWN this was a warranty repair. Mistakes happen, so we feel they should refund his money and bill Toyota. They disagree, since he's already paid. He has been directed to contact Toyota directly for his reimbursement.
This guy does ALL his service at dealerships. He even buys TIRES at dealerships! Too bad Toyota of Wallingford won't see any more of his money.
Sounds like they were trained at the same school as some of the CA dealerships. I agree that is a shabby way to treat a loyal Customer. It happens all the time to the unsuspecting.
That's not my beef, the dealership agrees this is a warranty issue.
The sticking point clarifies as follows:
* He brought the car in 6 weeks ago for the same problem (six weeks out of warranty) - no trouble found
* Last Thursday was visit #2 - diagnosed as bad steering rack (39 month old car - 27k)
* He asked about warranty coverage on Thursday and again, when picking the car up on Friday. Clerk at service desk states "negative", so he coughs up the necessary $1500 to fix his favorite car.
* Monday, the NEXT BUSINESS DAY for the service dept., he produces the warranty enhancement letter.
I believe he should have been refunded his money, and the job rewritten as a warranty job, directly billable to Toyota. If he had shown up weeks or months later with the letter, I would understand perfectly if he was told to persue Toyota for reimbursement.
I feel Toyota of Wallingford should have made more of an effort to investigate warranty coverage on a repair this expensive, and that they could have been much more willing to help resolve the error. He is not a demanding guy, not at all the type to yell, scream, or make any sort of public scene. Personally, I would have respectfully and objectively taken this all the way to the highest dealership employee, had I been there.
I asked my dealer service dept. about this and he said he heard of one other similar case. He checked with Toyota and was told that the revving is a "fail-safe" to prevent the electric system from overcharging. Seems to make sense.
Anyone else experience this?
Hope this helps.
Toyota Ken