Toyota Prius wipers problems

Filed May 7, 2024 · Brakes · MD

The 12 volt battery was low, apparently from opening and closing doors during a camping trip. After a few days of sitting unused, I attempted to drive the vehicle. I pushed the start button and the car indicated that it was "ready". When I went to shift the transmission into Drive, the transmission went into Neutral instead and stuck there. At the same time, "low battery" indicators began flashing and the displays started blanking out and flashing. I again attempted to shift into Drive so that I could initiate the gas engine and recharge the battery while driving. However, I could not shift out of neutral and then the car went out of "ready" mode but was still powering accessories. When I attempted to restart the car, it would not let me because it was in neutral. At this time, I tried to shift back into park (push-button) and got an error message that said, Parking Brake Unavailable. So here I am with a vehicle that I need to start to get the battery charged but it won't let me out of Neutral or into Park, which prevents it from starting. Repeated attempts to get the car into Park electronically were not successful and there is not a manual parking brake. The issue is that there was no way to exit the vehicle to get help without risk of it rolling away. And from a technical standpoint, while there was not enough power to shift into park or actuate the parking brake, the vehicle was still powering all non-critical functions like infotainment system, AC, convenience lights, windshield wipers, headlights, parking lights, etc. Some things could be powered down, others could not. It seems to me that, in the absence of a manual parking brake, powering the parking system electronically should have priority over all other systems. In short, I was stuck in the vehicle with my foot on the brake pedal to prevent a rollaway accident. Had I not realized this, I easily could have exited and been run over trying to pop my hood for a jump start. Or rolled over the people downhill.

Filed Nov 10, 2022 · MI

The catalytic converter appears to be overheating, causing the insulated sheathing in the hood to catch fire and/or melt. I discovered the defect this morning when I opened the hood to refill the windshield wiper fluid.

Filed Oct 26, 2022 · Electrical · NY

For the past year or so we have had issues with the vehicle not starting properly. If we leave the radio, wipers, heater, or air conditioner in the ON position when we shut the car off, or a window down a little on a hot day, a sensor triggers a Low Battery error code. We have had the battery checked and it is NOT low. When this happens to start the car we need to get a jumpstart from someone. This limits where we feel safe driving to as in a remote place where not many other people and cars are it would be more difficult to find someone to give us a jumpstart. On occasion, we have had to call a towing service to come to help us, which requires sometimes a long wait. The car starts right up once the connection to the other vehicle's battery is made. We should not need a checklist to make sure everything is turned off before we leave the car to avoid this non-starting issue.

Filed Jul 23, 2022 · Body, Visibility · ME

At the beginning of this week, I was checking fluid levels and upon dropping my hood, I watched a crack in the windshield extend up from the base of the windshield. Then, while I was driving, I watched the crack extend and branch into a second crack. Upon further inspection, it appears cracking started under the windshield wiper and arched downward to the base of the windshield and another a new crack extend upward. I am the only person who drives this car. I do not park under a tree or anything that might fall on the windshield. I have not experienced any rocks hitting the windshield recently. I have not driven in the rain in several weeks. The only time the windshield wipers moved recently is when I cleaned my windshield over the weekend and lifted the wipers to reach underneath. Best as I can tell, the crack started due to the windshield wiper being picked up and let back down. This concerns me a great deal considering that is not a great amount of force.

Filed May 1, 2022 · Visibility · IL

The front windshield wiper no longer performs on high but does perform on the lower settings. We experienced very heavy rain yesterday for the first time in a while and needed the high setting to adequately visualize the road and vehicles. It once switched to high the wipers were inoperable and had to be reduced in speed to even function. This is a significant safety concern as it drastically compromises your visibility in heavy rain conditions, such as those we experienced. Yes it is available for inspection upon request.

Filed Nov 8, 2019 · Lights, Visibility · 26,000 miles · CO

The car is inadequate in the winter. When it snows I can't keep the windows clean. They changed the fittings and I can't even put winter blades on the car. Also, and this applies to almost all new cars as well, the LED lights freeze over. It's a safety hazard not to have lights that work. And it's a safety hazard to have to get out of the car in dangerous conditions to try and scrape ice off the windows and lights. The front and rear lights get caked with ice and snow. This picture is of my windshield after an hour of warming up. The wipers stay caked with ice. And when I turn them on, this is what happens. They smear the windshield with ice. They smear it with water too. I can't squeegee water with ice. I'd love to trade it in, but everyone has LED lights. They're a safety hazard. And these issues are keeping me from buying a new car. I would appreciate it if you addressed these issues. The car companies won't listen to me. Thank you have a great day

Filed Oct 17, 2019 · Visibility · 40,000 miles · SC

Tl* the contact owns a 2017 toyota prius. While driving on the highway, the wiper blade on the driver's side detached from the vehicle in the middle of a rain storm. The contact pulled over, exited the highway, and purchased a new wiper blade. The manufacturer stated that the contact had to use toyota wiper blades even though the contact did not know where they could be purchased. The contact stated that this was the third time the blades detached and the blades were currently zip tied to assure they did not detach. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 40,000.

Filed Jan 28, 2019 · Lights, Visibility · 93,000 miles · CA

Headlight would burn out a year after replacement. Manufacturer issued a variant of a recall intending to provide a fix for high rate of burnout. I took my car in to a dealership to receive the fix and the dealership caused a problem with the front windshield wiper apparatus. Wipers would now work if the headlights were off, but would no longer work once the headlights were turned on. This would occur whether stationary or moving.

Filed Dec 9, 2018 · Visibility · 20,000 miles · CT

There is something wrong with the windshield design of the car. I had debris or road gravel hitting the windshield twice in last 2 months and got a crack on windshield in 2 occasions. I was driving car at 65 MPH on highway in both instances. I also realize a flaw with wiper design that the wipers do no clear the full wind shield. This reduces visibility specially winter when there is lot of salt and snow on roads.

Filed Aug 22, 2018 · Visibility · 10,000 miles · NJ

In early or mid may 2018, when my new 2017 toyota prius prime had less than or approx. 10,000 miles on it and when I was getting into my car one sunny morning in my gated parking lot, I first noticed a very thin vertical crack (circa 2-3 inches) on my windshield - starting at the very bottom of the windshield below my wipers. The crack was located in the middle of the glass, I.e. Between driver & passenger. The car was stationary, and had sat in my parking spot for the last day or two, and then on this may morning, there was a crack. No chip mark had existed prior to this, and no rock had hit it when I drove it last. There was no large tree near my parking spot, plus nothing was on the windshield when I got to my car that morning, so nothing fell on it. In less than a week, the damage on the glass grew larger (6 inches) and was spreading. I took my car in for 10,000 mile service per toyotacare, but toyota denied warranty coverage for the repair or replacement of its fragile prius prime's windshield, despite it being within the warranty period and the defect manifesting itself when the car was stationary. Within the next few days, the crack grew and spread larger, eventually turning 90 degrees and expanding horizontally. In late may or early june 2018, I replaced the windshield via safelite auto. The total balance of the first replacement was about $800 - I.e. The replacement cost was about $400, but I was told more money was needed to properly fix camera (adas) problems caused by replacing the windshield. In june 2018, the new windshield cracked, almost 1 or 2 weeks after I just had it replaced. While driving on the highway, I noticed a tiny object hit my windshield. I contacted the dealer. In august 2018, the dealership said it knew of no problems with the 2017 toyota prius windshields.