2001 Toyota Prius electrical problems

Filed Sep 11, 2018 · Acceleration, Electrical · 189,000 miles · NE

My car is experiencing what is known onlline as "the big hand syndrom". While driving, the accelerator pedal changes resistance and it feels like someone grabs the car and it dramatically slows. You then have to press harder on the accelerator pedal to maintain speed. Well one day, the car stopped working, no matter how hard I pressed on the pedal it would no accelerate. I was on the highway. I took my car in to the local authorized toyota dealer and was told that the accelerator pedal was bad and needed to be replaced. We replaced the pedal and experienced the same issues, and replaced the accelerator pedal again. I'm still experiencing the same issuses and the toyota dealer said theres nothing they can do except keep replacing the pedal cause thats the code it is throwing up. This is a major safety issue for my vehicle as I can and do lose acceleration at any given time. It doesnt seem to matter how fast im going or the driving conditions. It is completely random, and cannot be replicated on comand. The date listed is the first instance, and it has happened too many times to count or make record.

Filed Sep 18, 2017 · Brakes, Electrical · WA · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 toyota prius. While driving 20 MPH, the vehicle lost complete power and braking ability without warning. As a result, the contact drove over the median aand crashed into a pole. The air bags deployed. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer (titus-will toyota, 3506 s sprague ave, tacoma, wa 98409). The vehicle was not declared destroyed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage and VIN were unknown.

Filed Feb 19, 2014 · Electrical · 160,000 miles · MA · fire

2001 prius was parked in garage ~6hrs, fire started and smoldered, apparently using up oxygen inside the car. I went in the garage for something else, noticed the headlights were on and opened the car door to turn them off. When the door was opened, acrid smoke poured out, and the fire was given fresh oxygen, and it took off. Windshield cracked from heat, left front dash melted. Fire dept put out the fire quickly, but the car is ruined and the cause unknown. Thankfully no damage to garage, house or people. I had smelled a funny smell hours before, but thought it was something outside, so the fire had been smoldering for some time. Lights apparently went on because the fire/heat had shorted something.

Filed Mar 10, 2010 · Electrical · 15,000 miles · CA

Driving on the freeway early am, still dark, gas engine failed, ecu failure shown on screen. Electric motor was going at maximum with no "gas" pedal applied. Pulled over, turned off. 300v batt already fully discharged when it got to the dealer. They charged it and it has not happened again before selling in 2006. 2001 prius. Later on had two bad rack & pinion, the 2nd one failed a couple months after replacement on a long freeway trip at mile 300. Very hard to steer even at highway speeds. Toyota replaced again.

Filed Feb 10, 2010 · Acceleration, Electrical · 2,000 miles · MI

2001 toyota prius. We had a toyota prius hybrid gas/electric car the first that came into the USA. The car would reach a certain mileage and the computer which controlled everything in the car would go bad. We would get a few miles from home and the car would not work. It would shut off. We would have to sit for a few minutes and than the car would only go 35 miles an hour or less and we would have to turn around and go home. On one trip to california, when we got to colorado the screen said the go to a service dealer. We had to spend the night in northglenn colorado and went to the dealer . We had to take the car into the dealer so many times. They would replace the computer and all the parts, even the gas tank. The car would also lock you inside and you could not get out. The computer and the electrical system in of this model are all bad. They reach a certain mileage and bad. They were doing all the recalls from our car. They promised us a new prius signature toyota in benton harbor mi, and never got it. Finally in 2005 they said they would trade our prius car for another car corolla, but they charged us $8,000.00 more. Please help us get our money back. No lawyer will take it since comes from japan. We had tried everything and could get no help. Wrote toyota and never got them to reply to us. Tried their mediation and they held the papers until the time ran out than sent us a paper saying not valid any more. Help us get our money back. Let people know that prius cars are bad. Do not buy. *tr the consumer also stated the gas pedal would become stuck at times, which caused the vehicle to increase in speed. Updated 04/27/10 updated 10/29/10

Filed Jul 13, 2009 · Electrical · 32,000 miles · PA · crash · 1 injury

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 toyota prius. While driving 65 MPH, the vehicle lost all power and all of the instrument panel lights illuminated. The vehicle began to lose speed and the contact was able to safely maneuver it to the shoulder. While on the shoulder, the vehicle restarted without warning and reversed full throttle into the guard rail. The contact sustained head and eye injuries and a broken rib. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they performed a diagnostic, which did not produce any error codes. The failure could not be duplicated. The body damage was repaired at the cost of $500, but the failure was not corrected. The manufacturer stated that if a failure occurred, the vehicle would correct itself and would not display any failure codes to determine the cause of the failure. The contact was advised to take the vehicle back to the dealer for further inspection. The contact has experienced multiple failures with the vehicle since it was purchased. She is currently not driving the vehicle and it is at the repair shop being inspected for the reversing failure and for resetting the computer memory. The failure mileage was 32,000.

Filed Mar 2, 2009 · Electrical · 183,233 miles · CA

Hv battery failure, prior to failure of hv battery vehicle exhibited error codes indicating that at least two battery modules had a greater than 1.2 volts between max module voltage and min module voltage (hv battery consist of 38 battery modules 7.2 volts each). However, vehicle still operated although in a fail safe mode (no cruise control in fail safe mode, etc). Upon attempting to start vehicle heard loud explosive pop sound and vehicle would then not start. After removal and disassembly the hv battery pack I discovered tha two battery modules, out of the total of 38, had a circular burn between their ajoining plastic cases and the top of one of the two modules had exploded open -- exposing the battery plates inside (both burned cells no longer measured 7.2 volts, but about 0.32 volts). Burnt smoke residue showed on top of the hv battery pack inside metal housing as well as on the one battery module that had an exploded top. I replaced the hv battery pack no further error codes have been noted since replacement. Damaged modules showed evidence of an explosive force occurring and burning or shorting between battery modules.

Filed Nov 25, 2008 · Electrical, Steering · OH

Ltr from senator brown on behalf of constituent, re problems with his 2001 prius. *nj a safety alert was issued for the failure of the main computer, which resulted in the engine shutting itself off. The consumer stated the computer failed on his vehicle after 1 year of service. It took toyota 18 months to identify the problem. After a costly replacement of the accelerator pedal, the ECM was finally replaced. The consumer discovered a technical service bulletin had been issued regarding the replacement of the ECM. The consumer stated the ECM was defective when it left the factory, however toyota was not willing to take any responsibility for the repairs, because the car was too old. The power steering had to be replaced twice.

Filed Apr 19, 2008 · Electrical · 190,000 miles · WI

In 2007 I had a side impact with my vehicle. I told toyota to check for any damage with the computer components in the car. They said they checked everything out and said it was fine. Monday I had the computer and inverter go out on my 2001 toyota prius and I asked my insurance company aaa to check if it could be related to the accident. There response said it was internal shorts in the system not caused by the accident. The hybrid computer and electronic system just decided to short out. The cost to get it repair it is $4,800.00. The mileage is 190,000, past warranty. Nothing is wrong with the engine part just the computer electrics part. I don't have that kind of money and I still owe $10,100 on it yet.

Filed Jun 20, 2007 · Electrical · 79,000 miles · CA · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 toyota prius. The contact walked outside and noticed that the vehicle's windows were black. She opened the door and smoke billowed out of the vehicle. She shut the door and called the fire department. The weather was dry and sunny. The purchase date and powertrain were unknown. The current and failure mileages were 79,000.