When the car was turned on in the morning after sitting overnight, the dashboard was completely black. The car powered on, but there was no speedometer, no fuel display, no odometer, and no back-up camera when put into reverse. When I got to my destination, approximately 15 minutes drive time, I was unable to power off the car after repeated attempts. The car finally powered down after I held the power button for several seconds. When the car was turned back on after about 11 hours, the dashboard was working again, also powering down worked as normal.
2007 Toyota Prius electrical complaints
Page 6 of 9: complaints 131 to 160 of 248, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I was driving on a dark country road when both headlights went out. I turned the headlight control off and then on and then the lights came on again. The car has a long history of the passenger side headlight going out intermittently. When it was just one light intermittently going out, I had reported this to the dealer and later to an independent mechanic. I was told that they didn't find a problem. After this most recent experience with both lights going out at the same time, my mechanic again said that it was not happening when he test drove the car. I asked him to keep it longer for more testing since I was afraid now to drive the car at night. He kept it longer and did experience the driver side headlight going out. He recommended replacing both bulbs for a total price of $548. I called the toyota dealer to ask what they could do for me. Since the car is past 50,000 miles they said they would have to charge $475 to change both headlights. I researched online and discovered that this is a very common problem in the prius. In my opinion it is a serious safety issue and not a normal part maintenance issue.
Toyota sold me a brand new prius with a headlamp not working. After I signed all the purchase papers, they pointed out that the right headlamp was not working and told me that it was alright to drive home and return the next days for repair. After four or five trips to the toyota service department, they replaced the defective control unit. At a later date when the car had about 50,000 miles, I was driving on a freeway from los angeles to menifee, ca, at night in the hov lane. I seemed to have difficulty seeing the road and thought something was wrong with my eyes. So I switched lanes to the slow lane where, with less glare from the oncoming cars, I realized that both headlamps were not working. This was a dangerous situation on the high speed crowded freeway, so I pulled off the road at the next exit. Toyota replaced the headlamps, and I was compensated for the cost of repair upon the outcome of a class action lawsuit. Recently I noticed that the headlamps were failing again at around 115,000 miles. Immediately I had toyota repair both headlamps, as I didn't want to experience the hazard of both headlamps failing again. From my personal experiences, there is a dangerous design flaw in the prius that must be addressed especially before both headlamps fail again. I am concerned the next time the headlamps fail I will have no advanced symptoms and both might fail again simultaneously while I'm on the road at night.
I purchased my 07 prius from a dealership in september of 2012. There was only 1 previous owner & at that time my car's mileage was around 55k. I commute 1 hr and 20 minutes to work (one way) & my first incident occurred after dropping my son off at daycare early in the morning, almost a month after purchasing my car. I noticed my right headlight was out. When I got into my car, I turned the headlights off and back on. Both my headlights came back on so I didn't think twice about it. Afterwards, almost every month I noticed my right headlight turned off, which started to concern me, but after getting quotes on how much the repairs would be I knew it would take some time for me to budget the costs into my monthly expenses. After another month or so, I found myself driving on highway 55 westbound (cary, nc) at around 9pm at night & both of my headlights suddenly shut off. Highway 55 does not have much lighting in the first place & I am very lucky that my 2 year old son was not with me. I panicked but quickly turned my headlights off & on again. Fortunately, they turned back on. Now almost every month, & aside from one of my headlights failing nearly every 2 days, both of my headlights randomly shut off. In fact, my headlights shut off again this morning at around 5:45am during my commute to work on highway 55. I did some research but found toyota has only agreed to pay for repairs for '04-'09 models (with the same hid headlight issue) through the earlier of 5 years warranty and 50,000 miles or reimburse drivers who have already paid to have the problem corrected. I've already contacted toyota at 1800-331-4331 and filed a complaint but I was told that my car (at 102k miles) was now ineligible for this program. This issue should be an official recall to avoid any severe accidents it can cause for owners who cannot afford upfront repairs.
Passenger-side high intensity headlight started intermittently failing. The light goes out randomly and unexpectedly. Turning both headlights off and back on again temporarily fixes the issue.
After taking the vehicle in for a recall for a steering column issue, 3 of the buttons on the steering column fail to operate once the recall repair was complete. The dealer says it's an issue with the clockspring cable and are not willing to repair it at no cost.
After short period of servicing a recall on steering extension shaft #c0t, some of steering wheel buttons stopped functioning due to damages to clock-spring cable. The dealership don't want to admit their technician fault failing to realign the steering wheel to center position. Many of prius second generation hybrid owners been recalled have this issue after fixing the shaft. Is the damaged spring cables already were or due to lack of expertise?
Right headlight flickers when starting car, then goes out intermittently. Known issue with 2005-2007 prius.
Both headlights went out without warning. This has recurred numerous times since then, also with taillights. I've been pulled over 4 times by police for lights out. Next day, they're fine, or a different light is out.very dangerous and scary, as we live in a rural area with windy roads and no street lights.
Both front head lamps shutoff at the same time while moving at about 25 MPH. Turning off the head lamp switch and turning the switch back on restored the lights.
The plastic weld process or other type of gluing process used to make the vehicles exterior front and rear turn signal, brake and back up light lense assemblies or housings fails. All four, two front and two rear, exterior combination light lense assemblies suffer this premature and serious failure. When these exterior lenses begin to fail they allow water intrusion from the exterior of the vehicle. This allows moisture to penetrate into areas of the lense assembly which support all of the light bulbs used to warn or signal other drivers or pedestrians. At a very minimum this problem results in premature bulb failure for all of the signaling systems specified above. Researching your site this problem has been reported to you many times and toyota motor corp. Is also aware of this problem. What you don't seem to be aware of is the most serious concern resulting from this problem; if the right (passenger side) rear lense suffers this problem and begins leaking, the water runs or drains directly into the interior 12vdc starter battery well. This battery well is as deep, or deeper than the factory installed 12vdc starter battery is tall and can result in water overtopping the battery. This causes shorting/grounding across the positive/negative 12vdc starter battery terminals. This prevents the operator from starting the vehicle and cuts off power to all 12vdc electrical systems including emergency flashers. It could easily result in serious damage to the 12vdc starter battery and many expensive 12vdc electronic components or systems. This problem is more serious in areas that receive high amounts of rainfall. I called a toyota authorized dealership, lum's auto center, and reported my car wouldn't start. They suggested I bring it in. After 4 days they were unable to find the problem. No diagnostic codes were logged. This is a serious problem needing immediate attention!
Since two years old the headlights have occasionally flickered, and the pass. Side has gone out. Turning them off momentarily and back on solved the problem. Lately it's gotten worse, and I finally had my mechanic replace the pass. Side bulb. The new bulb ($85) was worse and now I'm told the "ballast" needs replacement for hundreds of dollars. Of course the safety issue at night is primary, but toyota was derelict in their duty not to advise customers of this highly unusual, potential cost when selling me the car. I've never paid more than $15 for a headlight and have always replaced them myself. Also, the owners manual suggests an easy replacement. My mechanic had to partially remove the headlight assembly. That was another misrepresentation.
Headlights work intermittently and the passenger side taillight also goes out and comes back on intermittently. Car is not driven often at night and this has been going on for several years.
My car will not turn off. After my dash went black my key will not release and my car will not turn off . This is a big safety issue and needs to be resolved asap!
The dash board did not display when I turned on my car. Only the blinkers, and air bag lights work on the dash. The gas gauge and the speedodometer do not show, it is black. And my car will not turn off. It seams to me that this issue is a major safety issue.
The following described incidents have taken place at least three times with no warning. Upon starting the vehicle there is no instrument panel display which is digital. The vehicle could still be driven. The vehicle's engine would not turn off without making numerous attempts.this has sometimes taken up to 10 min.. Then for whatever reasons after several hours the mentioned malfunctions stop and everything works correctly.I am very concerned the dash display showing speed and other necessary information will malfunction while the vehicle is being driven.especially at night.being able to turn the vehicle off immediately is also important.this vehicle is regularly serviced by toyota who have been unable to locate or correct the problem. I have researched this issue online and have found that there is a large number of toyota prius owners having the same type of safety issues with their vehicles. I have read but not confirmed that toyota is aware of the mentioned problems with the prius. There are some serious safety issues with this make and model of vehicle that need to be addressed as soon as possible. I hope the federal safety agency will be able to assist in this matter. Thank you.
Tl* the contact owns a 2007 toyota prius. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, the gauges all failed. The failure recurred numerous times. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer for diagnosis and was told that the failure could not be replicated. The manufacturer was notified but offered no assistance. The vehicle had not been repaired. The VIN was unavailable. The failure and current mileage was 80,000.
The headlights on my 2007 prius goes out constantly especially at night time there which causes total darkness and blindness. When I flip the switch they will come back on for a while. I know you know about this problem. I feel you should make toyota recall these cars. The dealer will charge 300.00 per headlight to replace the bulb but we know that is not the problem. They wouldn't come back on if it was the light.. Please please do something!! Its terrifying and very dangerous. The liability for you and toyota will be great should fatalities occur. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Approx 12/19/12 I went outside to start my 2007 prius. When I hit the power button the car started up, however the dashboard lites did not work (speedometer, gas gauge, heat, A/C, etc). I turned the manual control wheel on the dashboard back & forth, thinking that would solve the problem but the lites still did not work. I backed out of my driveway and drove forward, thinking once I put the car in drive the lites would come back on, however that did not work either. I pulled the car back into my driveway, put it in park and hit the power button, but the engine would not shut down. I held the power button for an extended period of time and the car still would not shut down. I sat in it (in 32 degree weather) for about 20 min. And it shut down on its on. On the following day I took the car to toyota & left it there all day long. They told me they could not determine why it had malfunctioned because the battery checked out good and all the diagnostic tests were all good. I had the same thing happen again on 01/13/13 and on today, 01/20/13. I do believe that this is a safety violation that toyota refuses to recognize and I just want my complaint documented in the event something serious happens as a result of this situation. Thanks...
Headlights are intermittent on both sides. Major safety issue. I have replaced the bulbs twice in less than a year and the issue still persists. It isn't the bulb the headlights are defective.
The headlights on this car have intermittently worked since the car had about 30,000 miles. The lights randomly turn off. Usually one at a time but sometimes both go out. Turning the lights off and back on fixes the problem, but only temporarily. I read that this is a problem with the bulbs going bad but I can attest that it is a clear defect. Replaced the bulbs and it still happens periodically.
Total dash board failure.....design is composite so all instruments go dark except check engine light which is the least of a safety issue...instrument panel should have separate circuits so safety isn't dependent on any single point of failure.
The passenger side headlight frequently fails to turn on. Sometimes it turns on, then shuts off within the course of a drive. Sometimes it doesn't turn on at all. It seems like it must be a problem with the electrical system, as the bulb itself continues to light, it just doesn't light all the time. The driver's side headlight, in the mean time, is perfectly fine and never has problems, which also suggests some kind of electrical/connector issue.
The front headlight started going on and off periodically while driving, we went on a trip to hungary and the light started acting up. We have taken it to two toyota dealerships within germany with no resolution but expensive bills due to the mechanics hooking it up to computer systems to diagnose the problem. This is causing us safety issues while driving especially on not clear days due to the early morning fog. I have consulted with my brother's body shop to see if there has been any recalls or defects on the lights, nothing. I am taking it again this week to the toyota shop in mannheim germany. This problem has not been resolved since feb 2012. I would appreciate some resolution to this problem before the lights cause us an accident. I have had the two front headlight bulbs replaced which are not inexpensive. Thank you if you need to contact me do it via email, this is my parents phone number in pa, I cannot type in my number in germany. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
When I turned my car on to go home my dash lights did not work or backup cam or seat belt alarm nothing was showing I could not tell if I was going forward or backwards etc I parked it turned off 2 times then 5 mins later it can back on automatically fixxx this.
Left headlight started just going off completely at nite, now both are going off while driving. Checking online, it seems that many other toyota owners have had same problem, and one of the vendors of headlights for toyotas manufactured defective headlights. Thus not all toyotas have the prob, just the ones with this vendor's headlights. But it still shows many do have the bad headlights. Toyota is not standing behind this issue and repairing the defective ones as they should. It is a very expensive...almost 2000 dollars to replace the computer controllers and headlights.
In 2010 (approximately), the dashboard display of my prius would intermittently not display when the car was first started. This condition makes it impossible to know how fast the car is going, how much fuel there is, etc. I visited dealers and independent mechanics and no one claimed to know anything about this problem. However, I have subsequently learned that toyota issued a service bulletin on this very issue in 2009! (t-sb-0172-09). I've also since learned (due to my own research) that the most likely cause of this problem is a faulty combination meter (as per the toyota sb). One independent garage in san francisco, ca has even started a blog about this because they are seeing so many repairs for this condition! It is absolutely a safety issue and the problem continues in my car today (I've just discovered the potential fix of replacing the combination meter). In addition to the dash display not working, often other issues, such as the engine not turning off, key not releasing from ignition, and rear hatch not releasing are also associated with this problem. Toyota admits in its sb this is due to a faulty computer design from one of its suppliers but refuses to issue a recall notice. The federal safety agency should force toyota to address this issue as the problem happens not only at start-up, but sometimes while driving. Losing speedometer visibility is a serious safety issue; as is not being able to disengage power in the normal fashion.
We have had some unseasonably hot weather here recently; on the day in question the car thermometer said it was 91 degrees in full shade. The rubber gasket covering the hatch opening switch was attached when I parked. When I came back, it looked like the gasket had literally melted off one of the screws; the covering was just hanging on to screw on the driver's side by a few gooey threads. That left a melted, tar-like residue on the hatch opening switch. Now the switch is covered in gunk and nearly inoperable. The prius does not have a trunk release, and without a repair the hatch is nearly inaccessible. This is a major safety issue because the hatch on the prius is a safety access point (the largest on the vehicle); the hatch is also the only way to access the batteries stored in the rear in case of fire or accident. When I googled the issue, I found multiple reports in hot weather areas of exactly the same issue, but I found no official response from toyota. My understanding is that this is a very common problem, especially here in southern california, and dealerships keep the part on hand in hot weather for exactly this reason.
The rubber covering on the rear hatch opening mechanism is melting. I have two other model year prius vehicles (2004 and 2006) and this has not occurred on those - only on this 2007 car. It is becoming difficult to open the hatch and it will probably fail completely soon.
I was driving on freeway (us 101 southbound in marin county caat 8:30 am), dry weather 60 deg f. Entire dashboard went black (speedometer, fuel gauge and other indicator lights all quit providing readings) and the energy monitor screen panel, while still lit, quit providing data (the miles shown on this panel were stuck at 107). Therefore, no speedometer readings were available. More importantly, I had extreme difficulty turning the prius off when I reached my destination--depressed and held power button several times, with foot on brake and auto in "park". Radio and air conditioning kept running, door would not lock and the energy monitor still showed background information. Otherwise, prius drove normally. This was the second time this happened in last two weeks. After several tries, holding power button down for several seconds, I finally did get the prius to shut off. And, when restarted, the dashboard appeared to operate normally. Not having dashboard indicators while driving is disturbing, but auto could be operated. Not being able to turn vehicle off is more problematic because it is difficult to tell prius was not shut down (the fan continues running when the car shuts down normally and electric motor is almost silent)--my indication was that the radio was still on and air conditioning was still running. If the car had been in drive, it could have taken off as electric motor was still on (I tested when I thought it was peculiar that radio was still on).
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