Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||||
| 00207 | 04/26/2007 | 10022143 | Techstream ecu flash reprogramming procedure. *kb | 07/06/2007 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 06/14/2012 | 47000 | ||
| I needed to wait for a service person to arrive and open the door to their business. after several minutes, while gear was set in park outside a building with the motor running and radio on, the car suddenly jumped ahead by several inches. it stopped just as suddenly. very scary. i have left the car in park with the motor running a few more times to see if it would do it again. no repeat incident so far. it moved a short distance, but would have been enough to hit a curb, person, or container who/that was near the car. | |||
| 04/06/2012 | 80400 | ||
| I bought 4 new pirelli cinturato p5 tires for my 2006 toyota prius in june of 2009 from discount tire. i was told that these tires would last for 85,000 miles before having to replace them. since then i regularly rotated and balanced them. when i went to get my tires rotated and balanced again 6/2009, i was told that two of the tires are already worn out and i would be better off to get two new tires to keep me safe while driving. i informed the sales personnel that these tires are just 3 years old and with 40,400 miles since purchased. he mentioned to me that tires many a times do not give the mileage they are rated for. in my case, i got less than one-half the rated mileage. with my driving pattern (13,000 miles/year), i would have expected these tires to last for about six years as i take good care (rotating, balancing, and alignment) of them. | |||
| 07/11/2008 | 65000 | ||
| I am writing to you about a problem with my 2006 toyota prius. in july 2008, the driver's side electronic door lock actuator failed and was replaced by my local toyota dealer - i had extended warranty so it was covered. now, the driver's side door lock actuator has once again failed. i have not contacted my toyota dealership because in 2008 if i didn't have the warranty it was going to cost me well over $1,000. the failure of this actuator happening twice is unbelieable. i've noticed similar complaints by other individuals. | |||
| 02/22/2012 | 120000 | ||
| The check engine light comes on whenever outside temperature is above 45f or so. took it to toyota dealership and they said it was a faulty coolant flow control valve that was resulting in code p1121. the dealer said this was a safety issue since coolant can leak out, and recommended it be fixed asap at a cost of nearly $1000. this is not an uncommon problem for prius's and an online search showed that toyota did cover this under warranty (extension) for some model years up to 35k miles. i wrote to toyota motor sales to ask if they would cover or assist with the repair cost, and if there was a hidden recall or warranty extension on this issue, and they responded that i should just try to negotiate a better price with the dealer. i think toyota should cover this, it is a safety issue and should have been a recall. | |||
| 09/19/2008 | |||
| Cpsc#i1230059. 2006 toyota pruis computer susbassembly. consumer stated that some products on the pruis have a design flaw that makes them itermittently, and without warning, quit working. *ln | |||
| 02/22/2012 | 120000 | ||
| The check engine light comes on whenever outside temperature is above 45f or so. took it to toyota dealership and they said it was a faulty coolant flow control valve that was resulting in code p1121. the dealer said this was a safety issue since coolant can leak out, and recommended it be fixed asap at a cost of nearly $1000. this is not an uncommon problem for prius's and an online search showed that toyota did cover this under warranty (extension) for some model years up to 35k miles. i wrote to toyota motor sales to ask if they would cover or assist with the repair cost, and if there was a hidden recall or warranty extension on this issue, and they responded that i should just try to negotiate a better price with the dealer. i think toyota should cover this, it is a safety issue and should have been a recall. | |||
| 10/01/2011 | 32553 | ||
| The standard engine water pump was found to be leaking and had to be replaced on 10/1/11 at 32553 mi. the electric hybrid water pump was replaced under recall on 04/02/11 at 30222 mi. | |||
| 07/13/2011 | 79000 | ||
| The exterior handle of the rear hatch on our 2006 toyota prius, melted into a sticky tarry, rubbery, gooey substance. it's like a viscous black glob like roofing tar. when opening the hatch, it is soft and gets under my fingernails. i believe this melting process started a couple years ago, but it's been worse this year with the triple-digit temps. my dealer, lou fusz toyota (in missouri) said they have not heard of this happening before, but when i research it on-line, i found that this has happened to several car owners. toyota knows about this, and is selling the entire wiring harness for $250 plus repair costs, and has done nothing about recalling this. from a safety perspective, this means you can experience difficulty opening the rear hatch (a life safety access point), and will get sticky black tar on you from the melted down rubber cover of the exterior hatch release handle. to me, this is both a life safety issue and a quality defect that toyota is opting to ignore, and only fixing on vehicles with extended warranties, since the failure appears to occur at around the 4 year mark. i am aware of the outstanding work done by nhtsa on other safety issues, including the problem with rusty frames on 02 isuzu axioms, and i find this problem to be similar in nature, so i am asking for your agency to take a look at these instances and also to inquire from toyota why they are not recalling these handles that are melting in the sun. i think a door handle or hatch handle should be made to last more than 4 years! | |||
| 07/04/2008 | 40045 | ||
| After only about 2 years use, the rubber cover on the hatch release handle (the exterior handle of the rear hatch) of our 2006 toyota prius, started to be sticky. now, after nearly 5 years after purchase, i notice that it has melted into a sticky tarry black rubbery gooey mess which has spread over a much larger area. i can best describe it as being a viscous black glob like roofing tar. to open the hatch, you have to touch this black goo each time (it takes 2-3 days to remove the stain completely from fingers/nails), which makes it difficult to operate the hatch release. it is obvious that this melting process started when i noticed the sticky feel. i thought that this might be a singular issue, but have found that this has happened to several car owners, particularly in the south. we live in mobile, alabama. it seems that toyota knows about this faulty material, and has done nothing about recalling this. from a safety perspective, this means you can experience extreme difficulty opening the rear hatch (a life safety access point), and will get sticky black tar on you from the melted down rubber cover of the exterior hatch release handle. to me, this is both a serious life safety issue and a serious quality defect that toyota is opting to ignore and only fixing on vehicles with extended warranties, since the failure appears to occur at around the 3 year mark. i am aware of the outstanding work done by nhtsa on other safety issues, including the problem with rusty frames on 02 isuzu axioms, and i find this problem to be similar in nature, so i am asking for your agency to take a look at these instances and also to inquire from toyota why they are not recalling these handles that are melting (it is outrageous). i think a door handle or hatch handle should be made to last more than 3 years. please review this. | |||
| 05/15/2011 | 45000 | ||
| I have two smart keys for 2006 toyota prius. one of them lose smart function and remote function. when a button is pressed, red light is not on at all. i have tested fob battery and it is ok. i believe that the smart key is defective. | |||
| 07/01/2010 | 53000 | ||
| I own a 2006 toyota prius. i purchaed the vehicle new. it has approximately 57,000 miles. for the past six months, the front headlights will randomly stop working - sometimes the driver's side, sometimes the passenger side, sometimes both headlights. if i turn the healight switch off and back on the lights will come back on. it is my understanding that over 1,000 prius owners have reported thhis same problem to nhtsa. please add my report to this database. | |||
| 06/01/2010 | 60000 | ||
| 2006 toyota prius hid headlamp failure. lights have been flickering for approximately 4 months and have finally gone out. | |||
| 11/18/2010 | |||
| While driving from arizona to texas via interstate 20, the headlamps on my uncle's toyata prius just shut off. it was nighttime and i was driving at about 60 mph. this is dangerous. my uncle knew immediately that the prius does this. i didn't. i had to pull over to the side of the road, shut the engine off and wait for some time before turning the car back on and getting the lights back. fortunately, no cars came from either direction during this time. we could have been hit because it was very dark when this happened. it turns out that toyota is aware of this problem. my uncle found several complaints online and notices about the problem from consumers. this problem needs to be fixed. people could get hurt. | |||
| 10/23/2010 | |||
| Passenger side headlight or (hid) will turn off for not apparent reason while headlights are activated. the light will turn off periodically during a drive over all surface types. correction: turn lights off then on again. passenger light will turn back on for a time, and then off. | |||
| 10/17/2010 | 66000 | ||
| For the second time in the last several months, the braking system on my 2006 toyota prius completely failed to function, despite the pedal being fully engaged, and i rolled into the car ahead of me at low speed. the first incident took place in stop and go traffic on the freeway, the second while approaching an intersection, again, in heavy traffic. on both occasions my front bumper was seriously mangled - costing me several thousand dollars to repair and increasing my insurance rates considerably - while the other vehicle suffered little to no damage. my neck is extremely stiff and i no longer feel safe driving my car. | |||
| 09/09/2010 | 60900 | ||
| My 4 year old toyota prius lost engine power on the freeway on two separate occasions. driving in stop and go traffic on freeway i heard one beep as the car lost engine power slowed down and went to battery. a long row of warning symbols, starting with the triangle, lit up. i slowly exited freeway on battery power then turned car off. i restarted car about 15 min. later and engine started, only warning lights illuminated were red triangle and check engine light. dealer replaced inverter pump assembly and flushed the inverter system. 5 days after repair, while exiting freeway during normal traffic, beep sounded and engine shut off and the above order of events happened again. this time dealer replaced inverter assy (assembly?). | |||
| 06/10/2010 | |||
| I have a toyota prius 06-when applying the brakes, especially over rough roads, they seem to momentarily fail before slowing the vehicle. | |||
| 05/21/2010 | 32000 | ||
| Frequently when the anti-lock brakes engage there seems to be uneven application that causes a slippage and the indicator light comes on. the vehicle seems to shudder and shimmey a bit making the braking seem like it is failing and increasing the braking distance. the vehicle has done this from day one and the dealer has assured me that it is normal. i have never had this happen with any other car i have had with anti-lock brakes. | |||
| 07/01/2006 | 250 | ||
| While braking harder or more suddenly than normal (usually on downhill) the skid control system kicks in, but for a second or two the brakes feel like the disengage and then go on again. for a split second every time it happens it makes me have a flush of panic. | |||
| 10/01/2008 | 50000 | ||
| Toyota prius floor mat and sustained acceleration | |||
| 03/19/2010 | |||
| The 2006 toyota prius was being driven up a hill (private road which we have access t)., when the car hit aan aea of loose dirt & gravel. this car, a base model prius, has anti-skid control, but not traction control. the base model in 2006 was the only one designed like this. what happens, is when the anti-skid kicks in, it cuts all power to the wheels. since the car ws heading up a steep incline, when all power to the wheels was cut, the car rolled back down and off the road ito the woods and trees/rocks. i just found out from my insurance company the the car is a total loss from all the damage to various parts. this problem never affected us except when trying to get out of the driveway on snowy/icy days. now, whewn this incident happened, it is apparent the car should never have been sold or designed in this way | |||