2012 TOYOTA PRIUS Complaints

BOTH HEADLIGHTS LOW BEAMS BLOW OUT AT THE SAME TIME. TODAY I WILL BE REPLACING THE 4TH SET IN 12 MONTHS.

LOST FRONT BRAKES COMPLETELY DRIVING DOWN ROAD. I WAS ABLE TO SLOW CAR WITH MANUAL BRAKE ON SHIFTER IN CONJUNCTION WITH REAR BRAKES. A SERIOUS ISSUE.

WHEN OPERATING THE VEHICLE ON A SNOW COVERED ROAD, I ATTEMPTED TO STOP WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS TRAVELING ABOUT 35 MPH. WHEN I PRESSED MY BRAKE PEDAL DOWN AS I WAS APPROACHING THE INTERSECTION, THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKES DID NOT FUNCTION. THE PEDAL PRESS WAS FIRM, BUT THERE WAS NOISE THAT IS TYPICALLY EXPERIENCED WHEN ANTI-LOCK BRAKES ARE IN USE, AND IT FELT LIKE THERE WAS INITIAL BRAKING WITH MY APPLICATION OF THE BRAKES, BUT WHEN THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKES SHOULD HAVE KICKED IN, IT FELT LIKE THE CAR SURGED AHEAD AND THE BRAKING MOSTLY STOPPED, EVEN THOUGH I WAS PRESSING DOWN AS HARD AS I COULD. I TRAVELED ABOUT 1/8 MILE DECELERATING FROM 35 TO 0 MPH. THE NEXT DAY I DESCRIBED THE PROBLEM EXPERIENCED WITH MY SPOUSE, AND IN OUR LONG SNOW COVERED DRIVEWAY, I ATTEMPTED A STOP USING THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM AND IT FUNCTIONED CORRECTLY STOPPING QUICKLY. WITH THIS BEING THE FOLLOWING DAY, STARTING THE CAR UP THE NEXT DAY MAY HAVE RESET THE BRAKE SYSTEM, BUT I HAVE NOW WAY OF KNOWING. THERE WERE NO ERROR CODES GENERATED.

WHEN BRAKING DURING NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS, A MIXTURE OF CITY AND HIGHWAY, THE CAR MAKES A SOUND LIKE THE ABS IS KICKING IN. WHEN COMING TO A STOP, THE NOISE PERSISTS UNTIL RELEASING THE BRAKE PEDAL. SHORTLY AFTER THIS STARTED, THE ABS, TRACTION CONTROL, AND BRAKE WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO MY LOCAL TOYOTA DEALERSHIP WHERE I WAS TOLD IT WAS THE BRAKE ACTUATOR NEEDED REPLACE AT THE COST OF $3600. MY 2012 PRIUS ONLY HAS 76K MILES ON IT.

BOTH HEADLIGHTS WENT OFF AT SAME TIME WHILE DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY DURING NIGHT TIME. AS A RESULT THE CAR DRIVING IN NEXT LANE COULDN'T SEE MY CAR IN HIS SIDEVIEW MIRROR AND ALMOST HIT MY CAR WHEN TRIED TO CHANGE LANE. I ESCAPED THE MAJOR ACCIDENT BY AUTO REFLEXES TO MOVE MY CAR TO SHOULDER LANE IMMEDIATELY WHICH OTHERWISE COULD HAVE BEEN FATAL.

SINCE I FIRST BOUGHT THE CAR IN 2012 I NOTICED THAT EVERY NOW AND THEN WHEN I PUSHED DOWN THE BRAKE PEDAL TO SLOW DOWN FOR A STOP, IF THE CAR HIT A SLIGHT BUMP IN THE ROAD, THE CAR WOULD MOMENTARILY ACCELERATE INSTEAD OF BRAKING. IT FELT LIKE I WAS LOSING CONTROL OF THE CAR. (NOTE: SINCE I DID NOT RECORD THE DATES, PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE CHOSEN AUGUST 1, 2017 AS A RANDOM DATE JUST SO I COULD CONTINUE ON TO THE NEXT STEP BUT THIS HAS HAPPENED FROM TIME TO TIME SINCE 2012.)

NOVEMBER 4, 2017 - CAR WAS PARKED IN OUR DRIVEWAY. PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE TO BACK OUT OF OUR DRIVEWAY. THE BRAKES FAILED. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS REPEATEDLY PUSHED DOWN, THE CAR JUST WOULD NOT STOP. IT ACTUALLY FELT LIKE THE CAR WAS ACCELERATING! THE CAR RAN OVER OUR MAILBOX AT THE END OF OUR DRIVEWAY. THE MAILBOX GOT DRAGGED UNDER THE CAR AND THE CAR ROLLED OUT ONTO THE STREET. FINALLY, WE PUSHED IN THE POWER BUTTON AND THAT WAS HOW WE WERE ABLE TO GET THE CAR TO STOP. OUR MAILBOX GOT TOTALED AND DAMAGE WAS DONE TO THE UNDERCARRIAGE OF OUR CAR, AS THERE IS TWISTED METAL HANGING DOWN SCRAPING THE GROUND. THE BRAKES STARTED TO WORK AGAIN A FEW MINUTES LATER, AS I WAS ABLE TO PULL IT BACK INTO THE DRIVEWAY OFF OF THE STREET. ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 ' CAR WAS PARKED IN A PARKING LOT. WHEN REVERSING OUT OF THE PARKING SPACE, THE BRAKES DID NOT WORK. AFTER REPEATEDLY PUMPING THE BRAKES, THEY FINALLY ENGAGED JUST BEFORE IT HIT A CAR PARKED BEHIND US. WE THOUGHT THIS WAS A FREAK ONE-TYPE EVENT, SO WE DIDN'T REPORT IT.

VEHICLE STABILITY CONTROL, ANTI-LOCK BRAKE, AND TRACTION CONTROL LIGHTS INTERMITTENTLY TURN OFF. A FEW TIMES IT SHUT DOWN THE HYBRID SYSTEM AND TELL ME TO STOP . NOW ALL THOSE LIGHTS ARE ALL ON AND I AM DRIVING WITHOUT VSS, ABS AND TRACTION CONTROL. BRAKING IS GETTING HARDER. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER AND THEY TOLD ME THE COST IS $3500. I DID SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND OUT THAT THIS IS A KNOWN PRIUS PROBLEM PROBLEM

EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION. WHEN I CHECKED THE OIL LEVEL BEFORE THE NEXT SCHEDULED OIL CHANGE, I FOUND NO OIL ON THE DIPSTICK. ON MY LAST OIL CHANGE, I WAS NOT TOLD I HAD A PROBLEM WITH MY OIL CONSUMPTION. HAD TO BUY OIL IN A HURRY AS I DID NOT WANT TO DRIVE THE CAR WITHOUT OIL.

NHTSA RECALL NUMBER 15V449 MANUFACTURER RECALL: FOR / HYBRID INVERTER/POWER MODULE (IPM) CRASH INVOLVING PRIUS V (OWNED BY ANOTHER PERSON - MY MOTHER WAS HIT AND KILLED BY PRIUS V) OCCURRED ON SR 105. PRIUS V TRAVELING N ON OUTSIDE LANE CROSSED INSIDE LANE AND 11' GRASS MEDIAN BORDERED BY CONCRETE INTO S BOUND INSIDE LANE AND COLLIDED MY MOTHER DRIVING ONCOMING VEHICLE ON INSIDE S BOUND LANE. WOMAN DRIVING PRIUS V WAS KILLED ON IMPACT, AND MY MOTHER DIED LATER THAT DAY AT UF HOSPITAL JACKSONVILLE. TWO WITNESSES DRIVING BEHIND MY MOTHER SAW CRASH AND SAID THE PRIUS V APPEARED TO BE ACCELERATING ACROSS MEDIAN. CRASH OCCURRED APPROX. 2 MONTHS BEFORE TOYOTA'S RECALL ON JULY 15, 2015 OF 109,000 PRIUS V HYBRIDS. THE PRIUS V THAT KILLED MY MOTHER WAS PART OF THIS RECALL. IN FEB 2014, THERE WAS A RECALL ON THE PRIUS ECU. THE PRUIS V HAD THE SAME ECU, BUT TOYOTA CHOSE NOT TO RECALL THE PRIUS V UNTIL ALMOST A YEAR AND A HALF LATER, 2 AND A HALF MONTHS AFTER MY MOTHER'S FATAL CRASH. IF THEY HAD RECALLED THE PRIUS V IN 2014, WOULD MY MOTHER STILL BE ALIVE?