1) my wife was driving our 2004 toyota prius and the car had a warning light turn on on display, went to "limp" mode (slow) and suddenly stopped after 1/2 mile. 2) car could not be controlled, no power. 3) toyota towed car to shop and replaced ecu controller in area of fuel tank, ecu relay and entire fuel tank assembly. Problem has not happened again.
2004 Toyota Prius engine complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 98, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Dt: while driving at a steady pace, the vehicle stalled. *ak
For the second time my 2004 prius has stalled while driving and shut down. I have attached my previous report to you when it happed in may 2005. The first time the ecu was reprogramed. This time I was driving on the freeway going 65 miles per hour on july 2, 2005 when the emergency engine lights came on on the dash board. The vehicle quickly loss power before the engine shut down. The battery meter confirmed the loss of reserve. I had the vehicle towed approximately 50 miles to maita toyota where I have my prius service. The vehicle was keep from july 2 - 12, 2005. The service department was not able to identify the problem. I picked up the vehicle and drove it home today. Now I have to watch for the next time that it happens for toyota to research the problem more. A file was open with toyota #2005 00071145 but without any help to identify the problem. Contact 1-888-dash-2-dot (1‑888‑327‑4236) tty ' 1‑800‑424‑9153 or ' 1‑202‑484‑5238 ' ' ' consumer information name : mr. Christopher smith org. Name : address : p o box 1543 city, state, zip : carmichael, ca 95608 USA daytime phone : 9163908494 description : 5/6/05 my 2004 prius with 20,400 miles without warning loss all power and shut down while driving hazard light came on warning to take to toyota dealer. The vehicle would not start. The battery meter level was completely dead. The vehicle had to be towed to maita toyota 2500 auburn blvd, sacramento, ca 95821, 916 481-5353 for repair. The work order stated the cause was the ecu which was reprogramed which cleared stored codes. Code pulled p3191. Is this a new finding in the prius? Incident date : 5/5/05
Was driving home at approximately 50mph when the 2004 prius suddenly shut down and was inoperative. We pulled the car over, waited about 15 minutes, and was able to restart. The motor.
2004 toyota prius. Stalled while driving at about 40 MPH. Able to restart car after driving with electric motor for a few blocks.
Engine failure at approximately 55 MPH. Had just come through a toll gate and merging intersection. While accelerating through about 55 MPH the dashboard lights all lit up and the engine died. Travelled to a safe location via battery power and called dealer. Car has been towed to toyota dealer in leesburg, but they can not work on the car until a battery charger is revieved from toyota. They say there is only one in the 4 state region so it could be a week or so. No explaination by service department on what causes this problem.
Approaching entrance ramp to i495 n exit 32 westford ma at modest side street speed 25-40 approximately. Car rapidly lost acceleration. Continued for about one minute onto the interstate and stalled on the shoulder. Battery indicated showed only one bar. Gas at least 1/3 full. Electric windows and displays and lights worked. Certain warning indicators were lit including red danger triangle. Could not turn off the power or remove the key. After 20-25 minutes, while waiting for the tow trunk, I was able to power off and on and then the car started and I drove home (30 miles). Performance appeared normal but the red triangle and a few other indicators remained lit.
My 2004 prius "died" with little warning while I was driving about 40 MPH on a busy street. I coasted to a stop with cars flying by me. Very dangerous. Car was towed to the dealer, who explained there was a software problem and they reprogrammed the car's computer. This is an extremely dangerous problem! I'm afraid to drive this car.
While driving around town and some highway, intermittently, the battery charge level will drop very low (one red bar), the battery will not charge, and the car will loose power. When the prius has power loss, the average mpg drops from the low 40's to the low 30's. The car has never stalled as per current investigation with '04 prius, but, the loss of power almost caused an accident. I have taken the car to a toyota dealer 3 times, they are unable to find anything wrong with the car. Have also contacted toyota corp and escalated, but, they maintain that there is not a problem. All sofware technical bulitens and any recalls have all been applied
(1) engine stalled when accelerating from stoplight. Weather was cool (low-50s) and rainy. Dashboard warning lights lit up ('red triangle of death', check engine, braking system) (2) driver pulled to side of road using electric power only (3) driver called husband, who advised wife to cycle the power off and on, possibly multiple times, until the engine restarted. Cycling power successfully restarted engine, but 'red triangle of death' and check engine warning lights remained lit. Car operated normally thereafter. Dealer applied tsb eg047-04 at no charge. Problem has not returned. Suspect this is another instance of 'prius stalling' problem. Given the number of incidents (1), the dealer response (satisfactory) and the recoverability from the problem (power cycle), I consider this a minor problem. Otherwise highly satisfied with car.
Dt: problems began 5-10-05. Several warning lights appeared on dashboard. The vehicle experienced a loss of power. The electric motor and the battery were working correctly, however, the gas portion of the engine was not working. Dealer reported ecu was out of calibration, and was reprogrammed. Vehicle is now repaired. Driver visited a forum where she noticed there was a report in the wall street journal and she felt unsafe driving vehicle.*ak *sb
Consumer stated while traveling 40 MPH all of a sudden , the lights illuminated on the dashboard and then everything shut off. The consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealer and they said it was a computer glitch regarding the release of gas to the engine. Just before a loss of power the dvd navigation system went completely out about 2 miles before everything else. *jb the dvd navigation system failed as well.
Toyota prius gas engine stalled after toyota service patch was downloaded to correct problem. Bought car march 1, 2004. Car stalled may 13 and june 1- see report filed under may 13 date. July 31, 2004 toyota downloaded patch to fix the problem and we thought it was fine. Car was ok for almost a year. Then, just 2 weeks ago on june 2, 2005 I was driving on the highway (luckily in a lot of slow traffic so only going about 40 MPH) and the gas engine died again so the car dropped to 20mph on the electric engine. All warning lights came on again. This time I stopped and restarted the car and the engine (gas and electric) came back on. This is what the dealer had said that the other customers having the problem had found- if you stop and turn it back on after a stall everything works. So since my kids were not in the car I did this and drove it to a parking lot. The warning lights were still on and now I am really scared to drive the car. In all three situations I feel like I was just lucky that I was not going faster and especially inthe second case that the driver behind me was aware enough to avoid my suddenly powerless car. I thought it was important to report this because we thought toyota's software download put in in july 2004 worked to fix this problem but it clearly is still happening. I will not drive the car now with my children in it and am considering getting rid of it. If it were any other car it would be gone by now, but we are big believers in the hybrid technology and really waited to report this to give toyota a chance to fix it. I think this is happening a lot more than is being reported because a lot of the customers feel as we do that we do not want to report anything bad about the hybrid. However, this is too scary now and needs to be addressed. With a third baby on the way we were signed up for the hybrid highlander but unfortunately will wait until we know this problem is solved.
Dt: toyota prius gas engine stalled 3 times, twice while driving on highway and on ramp. 1) may 13 2004 stalled in busy intersection going about 40 MPH, electrical engine still worked, so speed dropped to 20 MPH, and consumer stopped on the side. All warning lights were on. Vehicle was towed to toyota, and they said nothing was wrong except dirty gas. They reset warning lights, and told it was safe. 2) june 1, 2004, while merging onto a highway going up the ramp at about 50 MPH car jerked and slowed to about 25 MPH without warning. Car behind m had to go onto shoulder to avoid rear ending consumer's vehicle. All warning lights were on again . When checking engine display only electrical power was working again. Gas engine had stalled, causing the immediate decrease in speed, without brake lights so car behind didn't know what was happening. Towed to toyota. They said nothing was wrong again except dirty gas. Consumer changed gas stations and used their recommended ones since the last incident. Consumer refused to take the car back . Had two toddlers who were in the car at the time of the incidents. Gmc dealer sent a patch which wa ssuppose to fix the problem, but patch did,t work. Problem recurred.
I own a 2004 toyota prius, 15680 miles. The engine stopped when I was driving at about 60 MPH and all warning lights came on. I was able to drive it on the electrical motor for about 1 mile to a gas station before the battery ran out. I had it towed to my dealer, toyota of bowie in md. The next day, it started right up and they said that they checked it and could find nothing wrong with it. This happened a few days before news stories of similar complaints. This is a frightening, and potentially very dangerous problem. I'm surprised and upset that the dealer or toyota has not contacted me with a fix since they have learned about this problem.
My 2004 prius lost power when I was traveling at about 65-70 miles per hour on 2/21/05. I had electric power for a few minutes so that I could pull off at an exit. All the warning/caution lights came on. The kern toyota dealership in winchester va had my car towed in. They kept the car overnight. They said that they reprogrammed my computer and the car was fine. They offered no other explanation or possible future concerns. I reported this to toyota management this morning and have a confirmation # if needed. I just saw the articles where they noted 33 other incidents like mine.
Pe05029 2 times the car engine stopped for no reason at all. Dashboard lit up entirely. Both times the car restarted. Each time, fewer lights came on. Brought car in 2x- 1st time, did nothing. 2nd time, supposedly upgraded program. When 1st heard about your investigation, contacted toyota to see if we were part of the 33-- we believe it is being under-reported. Contact name: diane romanchick and paul embree.
2004 toyota prius, stalled while driving. This is the second time I have taken it to the shop for this problem.
I have a 2004 prius that stalled on the freeway this february for no reason. When we took it to the dealer, the mechanics said they had no idea why it happened, but that they "reset the computer" and it wouldn't happen again.
Vehicle's gas engine quit after leaving a store's parking lot. Warning lights indicated to take it to the nearest toyota dealer immediately. Dealer indicated it was a software problem, and uploaded a fix. 2 hours of work time was lost.
I pulled out of a parking space into traffic and the car immediately stalled. I couldn't turn it off, and I couldn't get it into drive. Park and neutral were the only options. Traffic was coming at me from both directions and there was nothing I could do, but put on the 4 way flashers.using my cell phone I called the local dealership and they advised me to have the car towed. I called the tow company.
Yaps (yet another prius stall). I was not going fast - probably about 10-15 MPH. Just like the other reports, it lost power, all the warning lights came on, and it coasted to a halt. I was able to restart it but the ice would not kick in so it ran in electric mode only. After less than a mile the battery was almost drained so I had to pull over and park it. Had it towed in to the nearest dealer - toyota of seattle - where they said it was a software issue and they'd seen it before. They performed an upgrade and returned it to me.
My 2004 prius cut out at about 25 MPH and would not restart.
I am estimating the dates - I took my 2004 prius to the dealer on october 12, as it was not driving right since I had done a "hard brake" the week before. The service dept was unable to find anything amiss. Then, while driving to work that friday, my car indicated that I needed to stop the car immediately (via the red triangle etc. Lights on dashboard). I was travelling at about 45 miles per hour at the time. I coasted into a left turn lane, but was unable to complete the turn into the parking lot as the car had shut down. I was pushed into the parking lot. I contacted the dealer and the car was towed to the nearest dealer (larry miller toyota on w. Bell road). I was told the ecu was reprogrammed and that there was a service bulletin that was not sent to owners, but directed dealers to do the fix only when there was a car with the failure. My car has exhibited the red triangle one other time, 4/15/05 I believe, it was towed again, to bell road toyota. The answer seems to be "if there is no code on the computer that something is wrong, we cannot fix it, since we don't know where the problem is."
1. I was driving on the long island expressway. Traffic became congested so the pace was stop and go. I started to accelerate (was going about ~35 MPH) when my 2004 prius lost power. I was able to pull over. All these lights came on indicating there was a problem. I was able to pull over and get off the road., I called the 800 no. For roadside assist. But the wait was over an hour. After ~20 minutes I started the car to try to boost the power the electric battery. I drove it in a parking lot and kept braking. The car seemed fine so I cancelled roadside assist. I then drove it another 250 miles home without a problem. After hearing the news I thought the problem I had was the same. I wasn't sure what further steps to take. I did have my toyota dealer check it out but someone else dropped the car off for me so I'm not sure they totally understood the actual problem. They did a computer adjustment. No problems since this one and only incident.
Dad: vehicle runs and suddenly stalls and stops working. Owner attempts to start car again, and it does not start. Car was taken to the dealer three times, and dealer fixed it. But, after some time the car did not work again. Owner stated that car was serviced on regular basis.
Driving down the road at approx 45 MPH in my '04 toyota prius. The vehicle lost power and stalled in the middle of the road. Engine stopped running and battery power ran out causing the vehicle to stall.
Dt: the consumer owns a 2004 toyota prius. He says that he is having problems with the vehicle because it will shut off while in traffic. Also the park mechanism will disengaged and the lock button does not unlock the doors as specified in the owners manual. Also the start button does not consistently start the vehicle properly. *jb the vehicle experienced: inoperative brake light, the fuel door spring was replaced, dome light remained on, engine would disengage, lights would remain lit after the vehicle was started, vehicle would not move until the vehicle was shut off and restarted to get the brake light to go out, rattling as if it were going to stall, the alarm sounded on one occasion when the door was opened, fuel door spring malfunctioned and fuel door would not open. The technicians were unable to verify the door lock malfunction. The consumer would like the vehicle replaced with a 2005 model equipped as detailed on the original invoice including aftermarket items paid for.
Dt: the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. This vehicle would stall at high speeds. He was going 65-70 MPH at time of incident. This happened without warning. It exactly what the reports said happened to him. He can be contacted by odi for this if needed. Also, had premature wear on tires. Had the front and rear ends aligned three times since he purchased the vehicle.
My 2004 toyota prius stalled while traveling about 40-45 MPH with a full tank of gas on 5/14/05. The check engine light came on and it coasted to a stop. I turned off the power switch and restarted it and the engine came back on and ran fine except with the check engine light still on. The next day the check engine light was off and the engine ran fine. I took it in to the dealer's service center and they said they did something with the softwear and it should run fine now.
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