Dt*: the contact stated while driving 65 MPH under normal road conditions, the vehicle stalled. There were no warnings prior to the failure. The vehicle was taken to the service dealer, who was not able to identify the problem. Updated 12/18/2006 -
2005 Toyota Prius engine complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 79, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2005 prius stalled at 70 MPH on highway, could not restart, had to be towed 150 miles to dealership.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle stalled on two separate occasions. The first time it occurred was on april 7th while driving at a steady speed of 25mph. The second time it occurred was on april 21st while driving at a steady speed of 5-15 MPH. All the warning lights illuminated and the vehicle was pulled over. Once pulled over, the vehicle would not go back into the drive position. Afterwards, it stalled and would not restart. The stalling occurred 3-5 minutes after it was pulled over. The vehicle was towed to the dealership both times. The first time the dealer replaced the entire transmission. The second time the dealer replaced the inverter. On april 23rd while driving the dash board lights became inoperable including the speedometer, and the gear indicator. The contact alerted the dealership by phone who explained the problem was likely the circuit board and it was okay to continue driving the vehicle. Afterwards, the vehicle began to blow out hot and cold air and the dealership was alerted again which explained it was okay to continue driving. Shortly after it began to rain, the wipers were turned on, and the dash lights became inoperable once again. The vehicle is scheduled for inspection on monday may 8th.
Consumer complaint concerning 2005 prius engine stalling. *ts
Engine stalls.
2005 toyota prius: in slippery conditions, when a front wheel slips, both wheels stop rotating and then the wheel that did not slip is given power. This takes about 1 second. During that time the motor has shut down, losing substantial forward momentum. If the second wheel slips,the process is repeated giving the original wheel power. The 1 second time interval occurs again and more forward momentum is lost. On a slippery hill, this basically stops the forward motion of the auto very quickly. If both wheels continue to slip,the auto just sits there , with the electric motor starting and stopping as the power is switched between front wheels. If there are cars behind yours, then backing up is impossible. If the wife and kids are in a bad neighbor hood and this happens,that could mean real trouble. The condition is totally unacceptable. All the prius' should be recalled and the traction control reprogrammed to allow reduced power to the slipping wheel, not zero power. This will tend to maintain forward momentum and keep the motor from shutting down. I spoke to the original dealer and they claimed no knowledge of the design flaw.
2005 toyota prius went into a sudden engine stalling mode. I do realize that toyota has a recall on such vehicles, but the toyota dealership that I took it to, the same place where I bought the vehicle, that had a "prius expert" has been diagnosing this problem for a day with no answers / anticipated fix date. This is annoying to say the least, as toyota does not seem to have taken the time to train it's dealerships on their own recall information. I could steer and operate the vehicle in electric only mode. Pressing the power key would not power off the car. Hence the battery started to drain. Opening the passenger door and pressing the power key, seemed to have been able to stop the car, not sure whether this was timing, or some coincidence. Starting the car again, made the gasoline engine come on for the purpose of replenishing the charge for the battery, with the dash still displaying the same issues. Also, pressing the accelerator again, does not raise the RPM of the gasoline engine. Its stalling continues after a power cycle.
I took my prius in for recall, noted in pe05029, on or about december 9, 2005. I had no problems with the prius before the recall but did the recall because of the problems others were having. I had 25,000 miles with no problems before I took the car to toyota to do the recall. Since then on two occasions, on or about january 14, 2006 and on or about january 16, 2006, I have had the engine start to rev up while at a stop light with my foot on the brake. I drive using only one foot so the gas pedal did not have anything. The engine seemed to rev to about 2000 rpms. This is an estimate on my own part from the sound and not a measurement. On the first occasion I turned off the climate control as I was proceeding to shut down the car and the engine returned to normal idle and then turned off as it normally would at a stop light. I left the climate control off and continued to drive when the light turned green and had no more problems that day. On the second occasion I eased up slightly on the brake pedal to see if the engine was actually propelling the car forward and the car moved forward but no stronger than it normally does with the electric motor. So, the engine although revving up seemed to be disconnected from the drive train. I believe I noticed on both occasions that the battery was fully charges with no white space at the top as usual. Probably because the engine runs more anyway since the recall as can be noted by the loss in fuel economy. I reported it to the dealers service representative that I took the car in for recall and was told that unless it was a repeatable problem they probably would not be able to find anything. I requested that he report it to toyota anyway.
I took my toyota prius in for the recall noted in pe05029 and since have lost 8 miles per gallon in performance. I contacted toyota customer service to let them know and asked if they could tell me if other customers were experiencing the same problem. The reply was that customer service information is proprietary and that they would record my complaint but could give me no further information. I am not sure the car would still meet the epa mileage rating originally given.
I was driving on highway at 70 MPH and vehicle stalled. I coasted over to road shoulder, turned off vehicle power and restarted vehicle without issue. Called toyota dealer and was told my VIN was not part of the software recall for software problem for stalling engines. This could have caused a serious problem if I was not in the right lane and able to move to shoulder, clearing traffic immediately.
Toyota prius; driving on interstate 287 in new jersey when the engine cut out and would not restart.
Purchased 2005 toyota prius - VIN # jtd kb2 ou1 530 793 29 on july 20, 2005 -registered it to my wife krista gottlieb. On july 22, 2005 when this car had about 80 miles on it, I was driving it on the highway in traffic at about 50 MPH - when suddenly I lost complete power. By that, I mean that the accelerator pedal was completely unresponsive. I am not aware of what the instruments indicated as I was preoccupied with the traffic (for more details - I sent a very detailed e-mail about the failure to our dealer culligan toyota, amherst, ny on july 24, 2005 - I have also sent additional follow-up e-mails to culligan since that date. ). As a result of the july 24 message, I arranged to leave the car with culligan toyota service advisor stephen desotell on wednesday, july 27, 2005 to be checked out. At about 3:00 p.m. On july 27 stephen called me to tell me that they had checked out the car and could find nothing wrong with it in any way '' mechanical or computer or anything. He said that it had the latest software and that there were no outstanding service bulletins of recalls for the car and that in his discussion with toyota, it was suggested to him that I must have inadvertently hit the ''power'' button on the dashboard - or words to that effect. Subsequently I tested the car and found that I could not turn off our prius by deliberately pushing or holding the power button in. By call to the above service advisor since then, he later confirmed that this was correct - that it was not possible to accidentally or deliberately shut any prius down by hitting the power button while the car was in motion under power. We have had no repeat of this event. However, the failure happened to us in heavy traffic when I was in the passing lane with traffic on my right and oncoming traffic on my left and a high-speed car approaching me from the rear - and I had nowhere to steer to! It was very frightening and we could have been hit from behind.
Traveling on nj turnpike in heavy traffic when new 2005 prius lost power and would not respond to attempts at acceleration to keep up with traffic. Was able to move over 2 lanes of traffic and stop on side of highway. Turned off car and restarted after less than a minute. No further incidents since. Took car to toyota dealership. They could find no reason for the failure after monitoring the computer.
I have an early 2005 prius which has "stalled" I.e. Lost al engine power on two occasions. I believe the "stalling" is intentionally designed into the software to protect the transmission. I think a design decision intended to protect the car is putting my life at risk. My early 2005 prius has "stalled" twice: once on the freeway at 80 MPH when I had to jam on the brakes (someone cut me off) and again on surface streets at 30 MPH when I floored it to accelerate suddenly. In each case the transmission's internal components would be under tremendous strain unless it disengaged. In each case all lights, headlights, indicators stayed on, the "check engine" light came on, the car continued coasting (as if put in neutral), and the car was unresponsive to the throttle and the gear shift. (in neither case did I hit the gear shift nor power button before the "stall"). In both cases I coasted to a safe spot (try crossing five lanes of 70+ MPH freeway traffic at night while coasting). Only after parking, turning off power, and restarting power would the car operate...at which point it operated fine. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong...in fact the second incident was two days after my 30,000 mile service! They apparently took no action regarding the concern I expressed to the service rep with respect to stalling...he assured me they would check for all available software updates, but corporate told me today there is at least one update (relating to the navigation system) which was not downloaded, so apparently the dealer is not responding to this life-threatening concern. I called corporate today to start a "case" and was told they are unaware that this is a recurrent issue. This despite discussions in the press and on hybridcars.com. I am contacting you in case I am killed or injured before toyota figures out that this is a serious and recurrent issue. The first incident was around january or february 2005, and the most recent was monday sept 19 2005.
Possibly relevant to current prius software reliability investigation number : pe05029 I spoke to gilles labelle of westboro toyota in westborough massachusetts regarding the toyota prius (this was a pre-sales conversation; I do not at present own a prius though until this conversation I was very close buying one; now I find myself taking a step back to ensure I've done my own due diligence). He mentioned the use of a reset sequence to "reboot" the car in the event of problems as a way to avoid the need to have the car serviced; I asked him how often he had to reboot his own prius; he didn't answer directly but instead said that he had helped about 100 customers through the reboot process. I am a operating systems software engineer by profession and was alarmed at this "just hit reset" attitude towards systems failures; ideally crashes in the field should be rare enough that each one can be root-caused, rather than shrugged off.
I was driving my toyota prius on the freeway and the vehicle died at 55 MPH. The engine light illuminated and there was no power to the accelerator. Fortunately, traffic was light and I was able to coast to a secure spot on the side of the road. This happened on the approach to the bay bridge, which would have been a potential disaster had it died on the bridge itself. The car did not start again on my first attempt, but it did start 5 minutes later. I took the car to the toyota dealer and they said they installed new information into the computer. I want to know why, if they know it needs new information, did I not receive a letter asking me to come in for service? This could have been really disastrous, and I fear that it will be for someone else.
2005 toyota prius, when coasting at high speeds, the engine cuts out so it is impossible to accelerate.
The prius shut down, stopped using gasoline power, while I was in the passing lane and traveling 70 miles per hour in moderate traffic on interstate 40 in nashville, tn. The red triangle, check engine, vsc and a few other warning signals illuminated. I managed to avoid being rear-ended , pulled to the side of the road using battery power, shut the battery power off, and consulted the owner's manual. Approximately 10-15 minutes prior, the add fuel light illuminated and the fuel indicator displayed a single bar. Having driven the vehicle for the past 8300 miles, my wife informed me that we had about 2 gallons of gas, and could easily travel another fifty miles. The temperature was near 90 degrees. I started the vehicle and chose to drive it off the interstate. We traveled 2.5 miles and coasted to the side of the road as the battery depleted. I managed to slowly drive the vehicle to a gas station and refueled. The fuel tank could only accommodate 8.1 gallons of fuel; it holds 11.7. Once refueled, the warning signals disappeared after 30 seconds, and we drove home. My wife took the car to the dealer, joe heitz toyota in clarksville, tn, the next day for an evaluation. The mechanic said that the computer indicated that the vehicle ran out of fuel. Since there obviously was fuel in the tank, I pressed the service manager for answers. By the end of the day and after consulting with prius technical folks in california, the service manager said that the fuel bladder may have collapsed over the sending module thereby signaling the car's computer that it was out of gas, which caused it to shut down. He said toyota is looking into the problem and provided a lame solution; refuel the vehicle before it gets too low. This is an unacceptable answer and I implore the federal safety agency to investigate this potentially deadly anomaly. It is only a matter of time before someone is in a fatal accident because the vehicle shuts down while traveling at interstate speeds.
Driving 65 MPH on the freeway, the low-fuel indicator light started blinking. Approximately 15 miles later, still driving 65 MPH, the engine shut off. Dashboard warning light and check engine light illuminated. "consumption" was highlighted in red. The car continued to drive in electric mode at 52 MPH for about 1.5 miles. When the battery was drained, the car came to a stop. After 5 minutes, I hit the power button to turn off the car, then again to turn on the car. The engine started and we drove to the next gas station, 4 miles away. Toyota (1‑800‑331‑4331) said to take it to the dealer. The toyota dealer said there is nothing they can do and toyota has not advised them on a remedy. Dealer refused to provide me with this agency's name (the federal safety agency). I left a message with "the prius team" at toyota 3 days ago and they have not returned my call.
The consumer had the vehicle for 2 weeks and had an episode where the engine stalled on the highway. The consumer believed it may have been caused by a momentary event to shift it incorrectly from the braking mode. When the consumer first attempted to put it in reverse, it wouldn't take then, and it would not take into the proper drive mode either. The engine had stalled, and would not go into drive. The consumer stopped the vehicle, and was able to restart it. The consumer had not experienced problems since then. The consumer called and reported the problem to toyota. *ak gasoline engine on hybrid vehicle failed to kick in or stalled. *sc
I purchased a 2005 prius in january 2005. At the time of the incident it had about 8500 miles on it. It had been performing well and I had been getting excellent gas mileage and the internal mileage indicators has proven to be very accurate. While driving on sc highway 31 at about 60-65 miles per hour the gasoline engine quit slowing me to about 40 miles per hour. The dashboard lit up with with warning signals including the red triangle, check engine, vsc, breaking system and I don't remember what else. A few miles before this happened, my fuel indicator started to blink, but was sure that the problem could not be gas since I have often gone many miles before finding gas in similar situation and knew from past experience, my milege,and fuel usage indicator that I had about two gallons left in the vehicle. This was an unfamiliar road to me so I continued to travel using the battery hoping that an exit would appear. The battery quickly became so depleted that I pulled to the side of the road. I tried to turn the vehicle off and found it unresponsive. After a few tries it did power down. I called aaa for assistance. During my wait, I was able to restart the engine, but it again failed within a couple of miles, but I was able to reach an exit and pull off. After the second failure, I tried to restart again and this time only got the red triangle and check engine light. Aaa did add gasoline to the car, but the fuel indicator continued to blink and the bar never rose. The car was towed to sparks toyota in myrtle beach, sc who called to say that they believe that the problem is low fuel. I do not believe that it the case as this had not happened before when the low fuel indicator came on.
Dear nhsta, on may 20 of 2005 I was driving my 2005 toyota prius when all of a sudden the gas engine stopped working and 4 dash warning/faults lights came on (red triangle; check engine; brake fault; vehicle stability control fault). I continued driving for 3 miles on the electric motor until the battery charge light indicated near complete battery discharge. I turned off the car, waited 30 seconds and turned the car back on. Immediately the gasoline engine started and the battery began to charge. At this point only the check engine and red triangle lights came on. I drove to the toyota dealer who said that my problem sounded like the stalling problems with the 33 reported cases of 2004/05 prius stalling. Toyota upgraded the engine ecu and the car has been fine ever since. However, I wanted to let nhsta know so that they know that this prius stalling problem affects more than just 33 prius owners. Also, I worry that toyota does not know for certain that the problem is fixed premanently. Thanks, gary beaupre
I have a 2005 toyota prius, purchased new in oct 2004. I was driving on I-57 in illinois at 65 MPH. Temperature outside was 91f. Low fuel warning signal began to flash. Since I planned to gas up about 25 miles away, I continued driving. Should have had approximately 2 gallons of fuel left. About 5 minutes later at 65 MPH, the engine suddenly stopped running. The "red triangle of death" and the yellow "check engine" warning lights came on. Realized that the electric motor drive system was still working. Noticed that I was approximately 1.5 miles from an exit. Slowed to about 45 MPH and continued to drive using the prius' batteries and electric motors. Pulled into a shell station and turned the car off. Began to refuel. After about 4 gallons, the pump clicked off. Tried again - it clicked off. Tried again and was able to refuel normally. In all, I added 9.767 gallons. If the car has 11.9 gallon tank, there should have been 2.1 gallons left when the engine shut off. Upon restart, same engine warning lights were on, but within a few seconds they went off. Digital fuel gauge increased, one block at a time, until it indicated full. Car seemed to be operating normally. Resumed 65 MPH. Car has continued to operate normally since. The shutting off of the engine was abrupt and would have been a safety problem had someone been following me too closely, or if I had needed full power to avoid traffic or an obstacle. Had read about this happening to other prius owners and that some had reported not being able to restart the car. For that reason, I chose not to pull off on the shoulder and stop the car (for fear that I would not be able to restart it), and was fortunate to be able to drive with the electric motors to a nearby exit. Have not yet taken the car to the dealer to have the problem corrected. Have not had any parts replaced or software upgraded. Would appreciate any advice or service information you may know of.
Driving 2005 toyota prius (pov) in traffic when hybrid system suddenly and unexpectedly shut down. Was unable to restart vehicle for approximately 5 mins. When was able to restart "check engine" warning light remained on. No property damage or injuries occured as a result of failure.
I was driving 20mph when a red alert light came on the screen on my prius; it said GPS underneath it so I ignored it, thinking I would be ok since I did not need my GPS system. I sped up to about 30mph and suddenly was not able to accelerate although I was pressing down on my accelerator. I came to a stop at the traffic light on a green; luckily there was no collision. The electric mode remained intact for the next 2.5hrs untli the car was towed so I could still turn the car on.
With approximately 7100 miles on my car on friday march 25, 2005 I was driving on local roads between 20 to 40 miles per hour when the car began bucking very badly .. Shortly thereafter the check engine light turned on. Worried that the vehicle may completely stall and quit on the open road I returned home and called my local arlington toyota dealer. I brought the car in the following morning (saturday march 26,2005) to check out the problem.they had the car all day and still could not identify why the car was stalling. Since I was schedule to be away the following week (trip to las vegas). I gave permission for techs to keep car all week if necessary. On monday of the following week, I recieved a call from tech at my hotel that they had fixed the problem. He claimed it was a misfire in #1 cyclinder. So they replaced spark plug #1. However, he also told me not get the car engine wet. He warned that if I ever returned the car with a wet engine again that my warranty would be voided. I told him that I never open the engine compartment and that I would never intentionally put water directly on the engine. Particullary on such a sophisticated car such as a hybrid. In the past 10,000 miles that I have owned the vehicle I have taken it through the car wash a total of three times.I picked up the car upon my return from las vegas on friday april 1,2005. I am happy to report that the car has been running fine ever since. However, since the recent rash of news reports of complaints filed around the country of the prius stalling I am wondering if the tech at arlington toyota had misdiagnosed the problem I experience this past march.
Reported incident to toyota customer support -- incident: 050412-000111 responses received from toyota was that the computer was fixed based on a technical service bulletin. No recurrence since the fix. To: toyota customer support sir or madam: I bought my 2005 prius new from mechanicsville toyota on december 1, 2004 and generally was quite satisfied with the car and the great gas mileage it provides. However, last thursday, 4/7/05, with 4738 miles on the odometer, while driving home from work, all the lights on the dash went on including the master warning light, check engine light, vsc light, and the multi information display is showing the red hybrid system warning light. The car lost power and I had to limp it home. The energy consumption display for the battery pack showed one red bar and the fuel gauge had two bars left. I called toyota roadside assistance which promptly dispatched a tow truck and delivered the car to the dealer. The dealer did a diagnostic test the following morning, friday, 4/8/05, and could not find anything wrong. The only explanation I got was that this is a known isssue with 2 bars of fuel left and the cause was that the engine sucked in air with stops or turns. Is there a further explanation or fix for this problem? I feel that this is a safety issue. I cross railroad tracks to and from work daily and definitely will not want this car to stall on the tracks or anywhere on the road. My wife and I are a multiple toyota owners: 95 camry wagon and 93 previa. I used to own an 83 tercel and my wife and step daughter have and still own a 96 tercel. These cars have been extremely reliable so that my experience with the prius comes as a shock. I look forward to hearing from you on this safety issue. Sincerely, apolinar ilog glen allen, va email: [email protected]
Dt: consumer states while driving her vehicle lost power. The vehicle was pulled off the road, after the vehicle was shut off, and it started back. The service department states the computer did not register the event, so they could not find anything wrong. The local service department said this was the first complaint they had received.
My 2005 toyota prius failed with engine shutdown at 65 MPH on florida turnpike. After restarting on shoulder, vehicle would only achieve 52 MPH, then failed again.
While driving my 2005 toyota prius on highway at approximately 65 MPH, the gasoline engine completely stalled but the electric motor continued to run allowing me to exit the highway, albeit at a reduced speed. I managed to drive approximately 1 mile to 1.5 miles until the electric motor battery was conmpletely depleted. The vehilce would not restart and I arranged to have it towed. While waiting for the tow service I tried to restart it a number of times and after 35 - 40 minutes it started and since then has had no issues. I believe that when it stalled on the highway the crusie control was set and there were between 1.6 and 2 gallons of gasoline remaining in the tank. This could have been a disaster if I was in heavy traffic in the fast lane as the car went from 65 MPH to 35 - 40 MPH in seconds! I also barely made it off of the highway and was actually sticking into the travel lane somewhat when the elctric motor also completly died. I notified toyota of the problem but no corrective actions were taken and they did not inform me of any issues.
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