2008 Toyota Prius: sudden loss of power

Filed Nov 7, 2026 · Brakes · AR

ABS pump failure. This is a known issue for Toyota Prius owners. My Prius ABS pump is failing and I am losing power brakes.

Filed Aug 23, 2023 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, she heard a beeping sound, and the instrument cluster flashed the parking brake and a triangle symbol with an exclamation point was illuminated. The contact stated that the "Failure with Transmission - Pull Over and Shift to Park(P)” message was displayed. The contact stated that the shift indicator on the instrument cluster showed that the vehicle was shifted into park(P). The contact stated that the vehicle made an abnormal grinding sound and started losing motive power. The contact stated that the engine was still running however, the vehicle lost power steering and braking functionality. The contact stated that when she depressed the accelerator pedal the vehicle failed to respond. The contact pulled off the roadway and turned off and restarted the vehicle and the vehicle regained normal functionality; however, after driving for ten miles, the failure recurred. The contact drove the vehicle back to the residence and turned off and restarted the vehicle several times. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

Filed Oct 8, 2018 · Electrical, Engine · 135,000 miles · TX

Car stalled completely under high speed acceleration about 70-75mph MPH on freeway. Lost all power .

Filed Apr 17, 2015 · Brakes, Electrical · 149,850 miles · WA

I was driving 50mph when the car lost power.the car suddenly had no power brakes, no ability to easily steer, no engine power and many warning lights came on including an warning that the main hybrid battery was not charging. The car would not respond to acceleration. The car came to a stop. I held the start button the car shut off. The car restarted with no problems. All the warning lights were off. I put the car in drive and started to accelerate. All the warning lights come on just as before and the car suffers the same issues again. I went through the same process of turning the car off and turning it back on. The car started up again with no problems again, all the lights were off. It failed on more time on the trip home. I was able to restart the car and put my emergency lights on. I never drove over 25mph on the trip back to the house. My family took the car to wilson toyota in bellingham wa. They examined the car and said the 12v battery had failed. They told my family that the main 12v battery runs all the electrical to get the car started and running. We told the dealer the car still had electrical power. They still replaced the 12v battery. The following day my family went to look at the car and a service person at the dealer, who said he was new to this location, said he had noticed that the 12v battery had seemed to be replaced recently. They said they would keep the car to keep looking over its systems. On 4/16/2015 my family called toyota to discuss our safety concerns with regard to how the car failed. We explained we also have a 2007 prius that had the main hybrid battery fail and that all the warning lights that came on were similar in both cars. The dealer has said there are no codes that said the main hybrid battery is failing. I am worried that I or my family could be seriously injured if the car failed in this manner again while on a busy highway or intersection.

Filed Mar 2, 2015 · Acceleration · 60,000 miles · FL

While driving at night approx. 50 miles per hour prius lost power and appeared to be in neutral. Did not lose headlights. I pulled over and shut down and restarted without incident buy am fearful of it happening again in traffic.

Filed Jan 19, 2011 · Electrical, Transmission · 15,000 miles · CO

On 3 separate days, 2 during the summer of 2009 and 1 during the summer of 2010, our prius transmission has automatically and repeatedly shifted from d (drive) to n (neutral) without warning while the car was moving. All incidents happened on extremely hot days (temperatures near 100) in the afternoon after the car had been parked out in the sun and without us having made any accidental contact with the shifter / drive selector while driving. This created dangerous situations several times as the car erratically slowed as we entered intersections or pulled out onto busy streets. Our initial response was to depress the accelerator, but when this had no effect, we discovered the transmission light had moved from d to n. It was especially dangerous when making left hand turns on busy streets with oncoming traffic. We discovered that we could keep the car moving by constantly holding the shifter / drive selector lever in the d position. Turning off the air conditioner did not help the problem. After the first time this happened, we took the car to the dealership to investigate the problem, but the service technicians there were unable to reproduce it. This glitch remains a concern to us because the loss of power and acceleration is unpredictable and therefore dangerous, but at least we know we can keep the car moving by holding the shifter in the d position. Because the car is so computerized, I suspect an electronic component of the drive system may malfunction at high temperatures. The mileage number I gave is an approximation since I didn't record the actual mileage when this first happened, but the dealer who serviced the car shortly thereafter should have that information.

Filed Feb 25, 2010 · Electrical · 30,000 miles · CA

I n a 2008 prius, three incidents turning right and left while on an incline. Two times in the last 3 weeks, loosing power with brake/wheels lights on when slowing to turn left on pine street at taylor...another time, also in san francisco slowing going uphill at post and leavenworth(no turn) but hill and slowing and loosing power. In carmel, about one month ago, turning downhill to the right, from highway #1 to carpenter street(again, brake lights/wheels)loss of power. Told tech's when serviced...told it was normal!

Filed Feb 15, 2010 · Driver assistance · 23,000 miles · MO

Driving on snowy or slippery road conditions can cause my 2008 toyota prius to lose power completely. In december I was going up a very slight incline, in approximately 2 inches of snow. The prius lost a little traction going up the incline and then shut off completely. I had no control at all as my car went backward down the incline and then straight into a snowbank, where I was stuck. Luckily there was no car directly behind me. It was very scary. I looked online for information about this problem, found a ton of it, then went and bought some very expensive snow tires. Now I'm using those and hoping I will not lose any traction at all with them.

Filed Feb 8, 2010 · Driver assistance · 500 miles · IL

2008 toyota prius touring version. Since buying the car is 12/07, I have noticed several problems. When slowing, if gas engine kicks off it is harder to brake (minor). When going over bumps (I.e, railroad tracks, rutted roads), brakes don't seem to work even when pressed hard (moderate problem). I make sure guy in front is far away from tracks before proceding. In snow (>4") car will stall - cannot spin tires (medium) so can't get the car to move without having to dig it out. Website (priuschat.com) says this is overly aggressive traction control which protects hybrid components. Doesn't help when in traffic and stall out. Major problem - if quickly accelerating, engine will lose power with fast plummet in MPH. Feels like the engine has died. Eventually with catch after it feels like it has stalled and will jerk and then slowly accelerate again. If acceleterating to avoid being hit this makes the situation much worse. I believe that the root of all of these problems is either traction control of vsc. Yellow icon flashes on dashboard when brake power lost on bumpy roads. Slipping of tires during fast acceleration or in snow causes car to stall. All events happened multiple times (multiple times from 500 to 36000 miles). Search dustyhuskie on priuschat for details. Figured that I would have to live with the problem and get used to it.

Filed Feb 4, 2010 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 100 miles · KY

I have a 2008 prius that has the same problem as that reported with the 2010. Every time I brake on a rippled or bumpy surface, there is a repeated momentary loss of braking. On a certain downhill stretch of road near me, it happened every time I drove it, until it was resurfaced. Another problem is that if the vehicle is on an inclined surface of crushed rock, there is a complete loss of power. The dealer describes this as an "overly sensitive traction control system" that cannot be adjusted. This is also hazardous because on slick surfaces, each momentary loss of traction results in an overly-compensated period of seriously reduced acceleration; we have been sitting ducks in intersections, unable to quickly accelerate out of the way if conditions are slick, not because of the surface itself, but because of the way the vehicle mis-handles the situation.

Filed Sep 11, 2009 · Electrical, Lights · 42,088 miles · CA

2008 toyota prius pkg 6...lost power at 65mph...engine shut down and I lost control of car...pulled over...lights said there was no fuel but I had refueled earlier that morning. Took to dealer...could not find a problem. Also, hid headlights intermittently don't work...very unsafe...has caused trouble with police...I am beyond irritated with toyota.

Filed Jun 5, 2008 · Electrical, Fuel system · 7,700 miles · KS

Summary: prius low fuel warning light/buzzer came on, and only 5 miles later car ran out of gas, in a bad place at night on highway. The manual states that when low light comes on you have three gallons or less. With the prius, even treating this conservatively as only 1 1/2 gallons, that should still be over 60 miles. I had driven the vehicle between 30 and 50 miles with low light on multiple times previously. This usually works occasionally fails fuel warning is clearly dangerous. And from internet researching, it is clearly a widespread problem, and toyota not only is completely ignoring it, they denied to me having received any complaints on this (there are previous complaints on this even right on this the federal safety agency website). Driving from colorado to kansas city on I-70, a little after passing the sign that said "topeka 27 miles", just after 10 at night, the low fuel light illuminated and warning sounded. We planned to stop at the next fuel stop, which we expected to be within 20 miles at the most. About 5 miles after the light illuminated, the car suddenly lost power, the gas engine clearly had quit, the red triangle warning illuminated, along with another warning. After the initial scare, I pulled the vehicle over, slowly, under battery power, not knowing what had happened. In the manual we found that the second warning indicated "hybrid system malfunction", and not to attempt to drive the vehicle. Some 10-15 minutes later, as we were trying to get emergency help, that warning disappeared, and a new message came up, "add fuel". Eventually we borrowed gas from a family that stopped to help us in this rural area, and got help from a highway patrolman. Toyota checked vehicle, denies problems, denies receiving complaints, refuses to send warnings to prius owners. The federal safety agency, this is a safety issue, like your recall 00v384. *tr 6/19/08 add **cw the consumer believed that the low fuel warning light was defective.