Tl* the contact owns a 2009 toyota prius. The contact stated that the fuel gauge would provide inaccurate readings of fuel levels. While driving 20 MPH, the vehicle completely shut down without warning due to a bladder fuel tank problem. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who replaced the bladder fuel tank under warranty. The manufacturer was contacted who offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 43,000. The consumer stated toyota paid for the repair. However, the gas gauge continues to be inaccurate and the consumer is unable to put no more than six gallons of gas in the vehicle. Also, at times, the vehicle would not shift into gear. Updated 06/30/11
2009 Toyota Prius transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 22 of 22, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving a 2009 toyota prius at 50-55 MPH on a single lane highway outside of prescott az, the drive system suddenly shut down and no response was felt when depressing the accelerator pedal. Lots of indicators came on and my wife was able to steer the car to the side of the road where there was just sufficient room for following traffic to go past. After spending a few minutes going through the owner's manual and finding no easy answer to explain this condition, we tried and were able to re-start the car. It must be noted that the fuel gauge when recently checked had indicated slightly less than 1/4 full and that we were proceeding up hill when the event happened. No add fuel indicator light nor low fuel alarm had occurred prior to this event. When the car was restarted it was on a more level but not flat surface. We proceeded on our travel with the flashers on and at a speed no higher than 30-35 MPH. Soon thereafter we did observe both an add fuel indicator light and then a flashing light on the fuel gauge itself. We stopped at the nearest gas station and added fuel. The next day we took the car in to the toyota dealer to have them look at the fuel gauge and electronically recorded history. The report showed that the car responded to an empty fuel tank by shutting if the engine and then the battery drive when its charge went too low (to protect the battery). We were told the this car has a bladder type fuel storage device and that it can act funny when it gets low. The car was checked out fine and returned to us with the words no wisdom to not let the car get too low on fuel. My concern is that the engine and drive systems shut down under high speed driving conditions without any low fuel warning indicators being activated.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 toyota prius. While driving 2 MPH in reverse, the contact shifted the vehicle into drive and noticed that the vehicle was still reversing. The vehicle was then shifted back into reverse and then back into drive before the vehicle would drive forward. The failure has occurred on three different occasions the vehicle had not been diagnosed by the dealer. He contact also stated that when pressing the start button the vehicle would not start. The brake light also illuminates on the instrument panel even though the brakes are not engaged. The failure mileage was 5000 and the current mileage was 10000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 2 MPH into a parking space with pressure applied to the brake pedal. The vehicle slowed down, followed by an unexpected acceleration. The vehicle crashed into a handicap parking pole. There were no injuries. There was a separate occasion when the gear selector failed to shift into reverse gear or park position. The failure occurred intermittently vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer. The technician stated that the vehicle was functioning properly. The vehicle has not been repaired at this time. The failure mileage was 36,000.
2009 toyota goes forward when I put it in reverse. I apply brakes, try again, and it goes into reverse, sometimes after two tries. Toyota service here claims they can't reproduce this. I don't believe them. It doesn't do this every time, but most times. Afraid to parallel park. Have you heard this one?
Automatic prius 2009 sometimes even though I shift to a new gear it sticks. So if I went in reverse and shifted out so that I should now go forward, the car goes in reverse. This happened the opposite way too. It has happened at least once a month.
Loss of engine power in 2009 toyota prius. When accelerating into traffic in wet or low traction conditions every time one of the front wheels looses traction, the engine abruptly goes to idle for 3 seconds and the car severely decelerates. Only by removing your foot completely from the gas pedal and reapplying throttle will the car start going again. This extreme over-reaction of the traction control system is very dangerous in traffic. This over-reaction is most pronounced if turning to the right when a front wheel starts to slip. There should be a way to turn off the traction control system manually.
When putting the prius into park and shutting off the car, it rolls back every time. Putting on the emergency brake helps but it still rolls. Also putting the car into neutral (ie going through a automated car wash) the car does not stay in neutral, it pops out and is very hard to put back into neutral.
I own a 2009 toyota prius. I was pulling into a parking spot in a shopping center when my car suddenly accelerated. I hit a small tree and the car beside me. The car is being towed to camelback toyota in phoenix az. The car seemed to accelerate even though I stepped on the brake. I did not step on the breake hard but the car just pulled ahead
While crossing a small bridge over an expressway, applying brakes at the point of bumpy transition caused the vehicle to lurch forward for approximately one second. This caused a sudden panic, but no other effects. This is the second occurrence at the exact same bridge transition and bump over the course of 8 months. There are no recognizable side effects. This has not been reported to the dealer, nor to the company.
I purchased a new 2009 toyota prius hybrid (gas/electric) on march 31, 2009. The car worked great, but with only 490 miles on the odometer, I did a routine shut down of the car on may 20, 2009 which turned out to be anything but routine. During this event, I shut the car off using the procedure taught to me by the dealership salesman, which was the same procedure outlined in the user manual. However, at this shut down, a very dramatic power surge went through the system, jolting the engines in their motor mounts (I heard an extremely loud squeal when the engines, both gas and electric, jolted to a stop, which I assume was the motor mounts taking the force of the power surge), and moving the car violently forward stopping with the transmission lock and brake which I had set). This was a very unpleasant and un-natural event. Following this event, the car did start and operate through its functions, but the driving characteristics changed dramatically. What had been a smooth operating synergy drive system was now slightly grabby both in acceleration and deceleration, and I experienced hard 'clunk' shifts when driving. Approximately every 15th gas engine shut down, the gas engine would 'diesel' and have a disturbing long cycling shut down vibrating and jolting the car in an alarming fashion which is not safe. On june 2, 2009, I brought the car into my toyota dealer service department, was told the car "can't do that" and was told the computer showed nothing wrong. On july 8, 2009, I went to another toyota dealer service department, they said the car was rough, and tried to re-seat the engines in the mounts, which temporarily corrected the problem until a major gas engine jolting shut down occurred again. I took it in again on 24 september, 2009, and asked to have the engine mounts replaced. They tried to reseat the engines again, with no success, and the random jolting gas shutdowns on the hybrid system continue, which are a safety hazard during operation.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 toyota prius. While driving approximately 55 MPH on normal road conditions. The cruise control selector was activated. The driver's hand slightly hit the gear shifter in which the shifter moved out of gear. The contact had concern of the safety risk regarding the poor manufacturer design. Immediately, the gear shifter was moved into the proper gear. The failure mileage was 7,000. The current mileage was 8,000.
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