2004 TOYOTA PRIUS Complaints

THE DRIVER'S SIDE HEADLIGHT WENT OUT WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED. TURNING THE LIGHTS OFF AND THEN ON RESTORED THE HEADLIGHTS. IT HAPPENED A COUPLE TIMES IN 2 HOURS OF DRIVING. AT THE END OF THE TRIP IT WAS HAPPENING ABOUT EVERY MILE. I TOOK THE CAR TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP AND THEY REPLACED THE DRIVER'S SIDE LAMP. LAST NIGHT 1/2 HOUR INTO A 2 HOUR NIGHT TRIP THE HEADLIGHTS WENT OUT. IT APPEARED THAT BOTH LIGHTS WENT OUT THIS TIME. THE LIGHTS WENT OUT EVERY 30 SECONDS THEREAFTER. UPON ARRIVING AT THE DESTINATION, I LEFT THE CAR RUNNING AND CHECKED OUT THE LIGHT SITUATION. THE DRIVER'S SIDE HEADLIGHT WOULD GO OUT AND THE PASSENGER SIDE APPEARED TO DIM. THE RUNNING LIGHTS REMAINED ON. IT APPEARS THAT OTHER PRIUS OWNERS HAVE EXPERIENCED SIMILAR PROBLEMS. IT ALSO SEEMS THAT REPLACING THE LAMP IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. IT MAY BE AN ELECTRICAL OR COMPUTER PROBLEM. I SHALL TAKE THE CAR BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP NEXT WEEK. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE DURING NIGHT DRIVING. *TR

HID HEADLIGHTS GO OFF INTERMITTENTLY WHILE DRIVING. HEADLIGHTS CAN BE RESET BY TURNING HEADLIGHT SWITCH TO OFF AND BACK ON AGAIN. A SEARCH OF THE NHTSA AND OTHER WEBSITES DEMONSTRATE THAT THIS SAME PROBLEM IS WIDESPREAD FOR SEVERAL YEAR MODELS OF PRIUS AUTOS. THE DEALER ESTIMATES TO REPLACE THE HEADLIGHT BULBS IS ABOUT $1000 PER HEADLIGHT, MAKING THIS A SERIOUS PROBLEM BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL SEEK LOWER COST REMEDIES WHICH ARE NOT SAFE. TOYOTA THUS FAR HAS NOT OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED OR ATTEMPTED TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. SINCE A TOTAL LOSS OF LIGHTING CAN OCCUR AT ANYTIME WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES, A RECALL SHOULD BE PERFORMED TO CORRECT THIS ISSUE BEFORE FATALITIES OCCUR. *TR

THE DRIVER'S SIDE HID HEADLIGHT, INTERMITTENTLY, UNPREDICTABLY AND INEXPLICABLY SHUTS OFF. IT WILL OCCASIONALLY RETURN TO SERVICE ON ITS OWN, BUT USUALLY REQUIRES A CYCLING OF THE LIGHT'S POWER SWITCH BEFORE FULL FUNCTION IS RESTORED. AFTER WHICH, THE LENGTH OF TIME BEFORE THE LIGHT SHUTS OFF AGAIN VARIES FROM A FEW SECONDS TO NOT AT ALL. AFTER RESEARCHING THIS ISSUE, IT SEEMS TO BE A RATHER SYSTEMIC PROBLEM WITH THE 2004-2009 PRIUS. OBVIOUSLY, THE SITUATION THIS CONDITION CREATES IS UNSAFE AT BEST, CAN PLACE ME PERSONALLY IN AN UNEXPECTED ILLEGAL POSITION - AND (SHOULD BOTH LIGHTS GO OUT TOGETHER, AS SOME HAVE REPORTED) COULD QUITE POSSIBLY BE LIFE THREATENING. FOR THE SAFETY OF THE DRIVING PUBLIC, I WOULD STRONGLY URGE NHTSA TO INVESTIGATE THIS ISSUE. TOYOTA MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR DESIGN FLAW, AND ENGINEER A RESOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. *TT

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROBLEMS. THE TRANSMISSION CONTROL LEVER BECAME WORN. SOMETIMES THE VEHICLE BEGAN TO THE ROLL WITH THIS DEFECT. THE INTERNAL SPRING THAT MOVES THE TRANSMISSION LEVER BACK TO THE PREVIOUS POSITION BECAME WORN AND NOW IT DOESN'T RETURN TO IT'S NORMAL POSITION WHEN PUTTING IT IN REVERSE OR DRIVE. THE SHIFTER LEVER WAS STICKING IN DRIVE OR REVERSE. *TR

WHILE DRIVING SLOWLY IN TRAFFIC, AFTER A PARTICULARLY ROUGH TRANSMISSION SHIFT, THE LARGE RED EXCLAMATION MARK WARNING INSIDE A TRIANGLE LIT UP ON THE DASHBOARD, ALONG WITH THE YELLOW "CHECK ENGINE" AND "VSC" (VEHICLE STABILITY CONTROL) WARNINGS. THE CAR WAS PULLED OVER TO A SAFE LOCATION AND STOPPED. THE ENGINE WAS TURNED OFF AND ON A FEW TIMES AND THE WARNINGS CONTINUED. ON THE FOURTH OR FIFTH TURN-ON, THE PROBLEM CLEARED ITSELF AND HAS NOT RECURRED. THIS IS THE SECOND ELECTRONIC GLITCH THAT HAS OCCURRED ON THIS VEHICLE WHILE DRIVING. THE FIRST WAS REPORTED AS ODI ID NUMBER 10407518. BOTH TIMES, THE PROBLEMS, WHICH HAD DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS, CORRECTED THEMSELVES AFTER TURNING THE ENGINE OFF AND ON A FEW TIMES. SINCE THE DEALER WAS UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST CASE, THE DEALER HAS NOT YET BEEN INFORMED IN THIS CASE. IT HAS BEEN EXCEEDINGLY FORTUNATE THAT BOTH OF THESE ELECTRONIC GLITCHES, NEITHER OF WHICH WERE RELATED TO FLOORMATS BY THE WAY, WERE NOT OF THE SUDDEN-UNWANTED-ACCELERATION VARIETY. THE RANDOMNESS OF BOTH THE TIMING AND THE SYMPTOMS OF THESE ELECTRONIC GLITCHES SUGGEST THAT SUDDEN UNWANTED ACCELERATION COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN THE RESULT. *TR

THE DASHBOARD COMPUTER IN MY 2004 PRIUS MALFUNCTIONS. THE ENERGY MONITOR DOES NOT SHOW ANY OF THE ARROWS OR CURRENT GAS MILEAGE. I CAN'T ACCESS ANY OF THE MENUS: CLIMATE, AUDIO, ETC. THIS MEANS THAT I CAN NOT TURN ON THE DEFROST HEAT IN THE MORNING WHEN THE WINDSHIELD IS FROZEN. SOMETIMES THE TELEPHONE MENU IS INACCESSIBLE. THE STEREO SKIPS AND TURNS ITSELF OFF. WITHIN A FEW MINUTES OF TURNING ON THE CAR, THE COMPUTER WILL RIGHT ITSELF AND START WORKING. BUT SOMETIMES THE COMPUTER WILL SPONTANEOUSLY MALFUNCTION IN THE MIDDLE OF DRIVING THE CAR. THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL WHAT CAUSES THE MALFUNCTIONS AND THERE'S NO WAY TO KNOW WHEN IT WILL HAPPEN. *TR

FRONT LIGHTS WENT DIM. ABLE TO TURN BACK ON WITH SWITCH. FRONT LIGHTS CONTINUE TO GO OUT OR GET DIM INTERMITTENTLY AND I MUST TURN SWITCH ON AND OFF TO GET THEM BACK ON. I HAVE PAID TOYOTA FOR SEVERAL NEW BULBS AND DIAGNOSTICS WITH NO FIX.

THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL DISPLAY (MFD) FAILED FOLLOWING DEALER REPLACEMENT OF THE 12V BATTERY. THE DEALER IS NOW RECOMMENDED $5,000 REPLACEMENT OF THE MFD. MFD FAILURE IN THE PRIUS SEEMS TO BE AN INCREASING EVENT BASED ON ON-LINE CHATTER ON BLOGS. THIS APPEARS TO BE A BASIC DESIGN FLAW IN THE PRIUS MFD SYSTEM THAT CAUSES LOSS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE RADIO AND CLIMATE CONTROL SYSTEMS. IT ALSO CAUSES THE DISPLAY TO BE TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE FOR DISPLAY OF KEY HYBRID ENGINE PERFORMANCE. *TR

TOYOTA PRIUS 2004 GENERATION 2, SPEEDOMETER INTERMITTENT DISPLAY PROBLEMS. THE DASHBOARD LIGHTS GO OFF AND ON VERY FREQUENTLY FOR NO REASON. NO DISPLAY OF SPEED AND FUEL GAUGE AND ALSO THE ODOMETER. *TR

DURING NORMAL SERVICE AT DEALER SERVICE ADVISOR INDICATED THAT STEERING YOKE SUB ASSEMBLE AND SHAFT ASSEMBLY NEEDED TO BE REPLACED BECAUSE OF BINDING. DEALER INDICATED THAT THEY HAD DONE THE STEERING RECALL " NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 06V188000 " IN 2006 ON THIS CAR. IS THE CURRENT ISSUE (WHICH WE HAD REPAIRED AT A COST OF ALMOST $1000) ASSOCIATED/OR AS A RESULT OF THE PRIOR RECALL?