65K Hybrid Miles and nothing but Trouble

[G. David Felt]

Hello All,

We'll my coworker Chris has been all about Toyota, He bought a Prius and then when the Highlander came out in Hybrid form, he bought it. Now Chris while over all happy with his auto's was a bit disappointed in the milage out of his Highlander, he actually figured it would be just like his Prius. But unlike me and my Suburban, he has allways taunted me as a destroyer of the enviornment here in Seattle and how much better he was for having his hybrids.

Now Electrical hell is starting to haunt him. His Highlander has almost 20K miles on it and it seems to always be going into the shop for little repairs. But the big story is what you all want to hear. His awesome Prius, now that it has hit 65K miles he bitches about the repairs he is having to do.

He has not yet hit 66K, but here is his list of repairs so far:

New Battery Pack

New Right front Electric motor

New Solinoid for telling the auto to turn on

New Electrical CPU as the display just died one day on his way to work and he could not see anything. Dealership says faulty CPU

Engine Shut off Sensor

Now mind you he has spent over 12K repairing this car now since he bought it at almost 7K over MSRP. The latest is that his wife took their cool little Prius and went on a business trip to Portland Oregon. According to him, her boss then had her do an emergency trip to California, so she parked it for the week at the Portland Airport. Upon coming in yesterday, she found her car dead, Not an ounce of juice to turn over. Chris drove down this morning and was not able to jump start it, finally AAA showed up and after an extended time, got the auto to start. I have talked to him since then as he is driving it up while his wife takes the other auto and drives home. The car is still running on the engine no matter the speed.

Chris says he already called the dealership and is driving right to them to drop it off for service. He said the Service mgr said there could be a short somewhere.

I will keep you all updated as I learn what has failed next on this world class Toyota Built Hybrid.

So you spend 50K, retail purchase and repairs and all you have is a car that is nothing but problems after 65K miles?

I think I will stay with my gas bill of $400 a month and enjoy my roomy Suburban. At almost 300K miles it just Takes a licken and keeps on Ticken like a Timex.

Edited April 7, 2008 by dfelt

[Paolino]

I can top that... my friends had their Prius for 4 months (I think... might have been 6 months). Battery went. Since the entire car is keyless... they couldn't get into the car.

They had trouble even getting into it when Toyota arrived to try and jump it, but they eventually got it open. It had to be towed out of the driveway. Wish I took pictures.

Oh, let's not forget that during a tornado with my goddaughter in the back seat, the windshield wiper motors went.

And of course... the craptacular REAL mpg it gets...

[siegen]

Did he drive all the way from Seattle to Portland? Ouch.

[ocnblu]

Every single Prius we've had in our shop for body repair (both of them :AH-HA_wink: ) has gone dead after being parked for a few days.

[pow]

Sounds like a lemon. The overwhelming majority of hybrids have been reliable so far, whether made by Toyota, Ford, or Honda.

[caddycruiser]

Sounds like a lemon. The overwhelming majority of hybrids have been reliable so far, whether made by Toyota, Ford, or Honda.

Agreed. There's story after story of people with Prius's and other hybrids going years and well over 100k miles with no issues. Some, however, do have problems...just like any regular car.

To add to the story, however, the husband of a co-worker had an '04 Prius for about 4 years and was one of the first to get one (waiting list and all). He's an older guy and big into small, cool cars especially with great mileage (bought his wife an "old" '05 Jetta TDI), and loved it. Until the start of this year. In February, he all of a sudden started having trouble with lights coming on, the hybrid system not working, and it just not running correctly. Had 61k on it. Took it to the dealer, out warranty of course in this regard, and was told it was a big computer model that was (I think) a few grand to replace. Being that he doesn't get too attached and loves looking at & buying new cars on a whim, he said no thanks, and told them to keep it as is on trade...and bought a leftover '08 Matrix. Likes that quite a bit too, though I've never had the chance to ask him about the mileage difference--or if he cares. One thing, apparently, is he won't buy a hybrid anything anymore, because of the Prius failure he had.

But, again, not overly common. Of course, hearing things like that is only more fodder for people like my parents to say "See. All those computers and batteries are very expensive and you never know when they might have a problem. I won't buy one."

When things do crop up...they do cost quite a bit, for sure.

[daves87rs]

I have heard more bad than good stories on those Priuses.......

[regfootball]

i can't wait to see how BAS compares when it comes out.

[loki]

i can't wait to see how BAS compares when it comes out.

V.2 right? hopefully it's at least 2x as effective as v1, "beta", supposedly is.

[Dsuupr]

I don't relate the hybrid stories to the hybrid issues, but to toyotas issues. My brother and his wife had little things fall apart with theirs, like the dash paint coming off.

[G. David Felt]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

So to first answer the question, yes he drove it from Portland Oregon to Seattle Washington and said it was the most expensive trip he ever made in the car since the motor never stopped running.

He finally got a call from the dealership today. Estimated cost to repair this is over $2500, requires a new electrical harness as they found 2 spots that are shorting out and they do not promise that this will fix the issue. They need to first replace the harness and then continue to diagnose the car to make sure nothing else is causing electrical drain.

Toyota quality?

So I will keep you all posted on the ongoing saga, but Chris is not a happy camper today. He road his bike into work and said it is a good thing he has a long ride home to work out his anger.

[IfICouldWouldYou?]

It's probably not Toyota's fault: it's the parts of the Prius engineering that the Japanese government paid for.

[Drew Dowdell]

I used a Pruis ZipCar yesterday. This was my first time in a Prius ever.

What. A. Piece.

1. This is a midsize car? Really? The Civic Hybrid I drive regularly feels roomier.

2. The center console was quite wobbly

3. The cup holders have no tension device to hold their occupants... which would be fine if they were also deep enough. A can of soda fits loosely at best.

4. The rearview camera was nice. I found myself using it a lot since rearward visibility is so terrible.

5. You have to press the start button twice? Really?

6. There was nothing on the dash that indicated the car was ready to drive.

7. Does Toyota really think we are so set on our need for a shifter that we need that little plastic dollarstore videogame joystick for a gear selector? If there ever was a time for a pushbutton transmission, this would be it.

[G. David Felt]

I used a Pruis ZipCar yesterday. This was my first time in a Prius ever.

What. A. Piece.

1. This is a midsize car? Really? The Civic Hybrid I drive regularly feels roomier.

2. The center console was quite wobbly

3. The cup holders have no tension device to hold their occupants... which would be fine if they were also deep enough. A can of soda fits loosely at best.

4. The rearview camera was nice. I found myself using it a lot since rearward visibility is so terrible.

5. You have to press the start button twice? Really?

6. There was nothing on the dash that indicated the car was ready to drive.

7. Does Toyota really think we are so set on our need for a shifter that we need that little plastic dollarstore videogame joystick for a gear selector? If there ever was a time for a pushbutton transmission, this would be it.

Yea I agree, I have heard these same sort of comments from another employee who first checked out the Prius and then ended up buying the Honda. Weird

[Robert Hall]

Aren't all these repairs covered under warranty? Sounds like a lemon.

[pow]

Aren't all these repairs covered under warranty? Sounds like a lemon.

All hybrids have an 8 year/100K mile warranty on hybrid components (i.e. harnesses, battery packs, modules). In CA and a few other states, it's 10 years/150K.

[gm4life]

They are a piece of $h! and that is there good point. I see lots of them now, must be selling well. Oh well let people buy $h! I hope they all explode.

[G. David Felt]

All hybrids have an 8 year/100K mile warranty on hybrid components (i.e. harnesses, battery packs, modules). In CA and a few other states, it's 10 years/150K.

I know that some of his repairs were covered under the warranty, but for what ever reason, he has had to pay and it has become very expesive for him. All I know is Chris is loosing his Rosey view of Toyota.

[CARBIZ]

I know that some of his repairs were covered under the warranty, but for what ever reason, he has had to pay and it has become very expesive for him. All I know is Chris is loosing his Rosey view of Toyota.

Now that is a shame!

[Robert Hall]

I know that some of his repairs were covered under the warranty, but for what ever reason, he has had to pay and it has become very expesive for him. All I know is Chris is loosing his Rosey view of Toyota.

That would suck...I wouldn't want to pay serious out of pocket expenses for a late model car..time to trade it in.