Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE - STORAGE - TANK ASSEMBLY | |||||
| TSB-0163-08 | 08/05/2008 | 10034264 | Toyota: fuel tank and fuel gauge diagnostic tips. meter/gauge/display. the design and operational characteristics of the bladder tank and fuel gauge system. diagnostic tips for the following customer concerns are also included. *pe | 11/01/2010 | |
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER - STORAGE - FUEL GAUGE SYSTEM | |||||
| TSB-0163-08 | 08/05/2008 | 10034264 | Toyota: fuel tank and fuel gauge diagnostic tips. meter/gauge/display. the design and operational characteristics of the bladder tank and fuel gauge system. diagnostic tips for the following customer concerns are also included. *pe | 11/01/2010 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | |||
| 12/20/2006 | 1000 | ||
| The mileage is between 30 and 35 mpg, which is a long ways from the sticker claim. the headlight goes on and off intermittently, even though replaced several times. second headlight is also failing. the blower works only intermittently, usually after hitting a large bump in the road. | |||
| 01/15/2011 | 30000 | ||
| The gas gauge of my toyota prius 2007 is defective and has created a very dangerous situation. i first noticed this about a month ago. the tank was empty, i put a few gallons of gas in the tank and it did not register at all. the gauge still said empty. the next time i filled the tank, it seemed to be working properly. then, on january 16th, i had a tank that was nearly empty. i had been driving for an hour or so when i noticed that the gas gauge spontaneously went from almost empty to full. this creates an extremely dangerous situation since the gauge is not accurate. there will be no warning before we run out of gas. if this should happen on a highway, it could easily be fatal. slowing down without warning is as dangerous as accelerating without warning. toyota must be held accountable for this defect. they will recalibrate the gauge at a cost of $180/hour to me. this is not a satisfactory response to a safety issue. this is a known problem with these cars and toyota needs to provide all prius owners with reliable gas gauges. thank you. | |||
| 04/08/2010 | 56032 | ||
| Ran out of gas in an '07 honda prius . emergency vehicle supplied 2 gallons and we went on our way. two tanks of gas later following a regular service visit to dealer, i ran out again just minutes after leaving service while the gague indicated that i should have about 3 gallons remaining. i coasted into a station and put 2 gallons in tank. car started but only died after several tries. towed back to dealer. they reported the car was out of gas. i told them i'd already added gas. they put in 5 gallons and said the gague indicated full. 3+2+5 does not equal the 11.9 gallons that the tank is supposed to hold. these cars feature a bladder tank which is monitored by computer and if the computer decides that the tank is empty, it will shut the car down. this is not a safe situation under any circumstances. the dealer, picked up the towing expense, the cost of a temporary rental and the cost of the 5 gallons of gas. they refused to explore the problem further and said we might need a to replace some part of the fuel monitor system. could it be that the bladder tank will not fully recover if a driver runs the car out of gas? | |||
| 11/02/2009 | 45000 | 1 | |
| I own a toyota prius 2007 which it was performing excellent until 3 months ago that the fuel economic went down dramatically to half of its usually fuel consumption an average now i getting around 200 miles for tank when i use to get at least 400 per tank now that's it is a big difference. i was thinking on contact the toyota dealer but my car it is been out of the warranty because it only have 3years or 36,000 miles so i am afraid they want to charge me for checking my car it is very suspicious that i start w/ this issue after my warranty expire besides that the car it is working excellent but i pay a lot more to save on gas an now it is performing like any regular because the most mileage i am getting now it is 35 miles per gallon.very disappoint about this and hope you guys look into this issue because it is very serious. *tr | |||
| 10/10/2009 | 9500 | 1 | |
| Car suddenly stopped while driving and all electical functions ceased. occurred one time only in 10/09. car was towed to dealer and was told there was a pebble in the throttle. car had been driven only on city streets,no country roads or off road. throttle was cleaned for a cost of $350.. *tr | |||
| 08/16/2009 | 43000 | 1 | |
| Decreasing capacity of 2007 prius gas tank. *tr | |||
| 05/13/2009 | 1 | ||
| Gas tank will not fill up fully. any auto shutoff gas pump will start shutting off with about 1.5 gallons to go. if i dribble gas in a lowest possible delivery, we can fill it up, but it takes about ten minutes, and then it often will regurgitate gas when it is full. we have complained to dealer several times. they say this is normal due to bladder in gas tank. we think this is a defect, that it does not allow us to get full range of tank on a trip. our previous prius from 2005 did not have this same problem. dealer will not address the problem further. *tr | |||
| 11/29/2008 | 30000 | 1 | |
| I own a 2007 toyota prius. i cannot fill up the gas tank without it having an overflow of 1-2 pints of gas onto the ground. it seems to build up a back pressure and kick out the gas i try to put into it. if this is happening to other prius owners as i read it is on the internet, we have a severe environmental hazard occurring from this gas tank defect. *tr | |||
| 04/04/2008 | 8050 | 1 | |
| On a 2007 prius gas gauge showed 2 bars and was driving across a bridge in california when the gas engine stopped. looked at the gas gauge and it still showed 2 bars. was fortunate enough to be on a section of the bridge with a breakdown lane. 1/2 mile further on and we would have been stuck in one of the traffic lanes. the vsc, check engine, and hybrid system failure indicators where on - but not the low fuel!!! got towed to a dealer. service manager told us that the car was out of gas and that the gas gauge was stuck that's why it didn't show empty. he blamed it on the bladder design of the fuel tank and said it was a design defect that toyota new about. this is a significant safety issue - we could have been killed. *tr | |||
| 04/07/2007 | 2644 | 4 | 02/18/2007 |
| Indicator lights flashed. malfunction indicator lamp stayed on. at 2,644 miles, 12 v. battery dead & replaced. i was told to keep the gas tank half or a quarter full or the reserve gas tank would cause the car to run on battery. the battery might have died because the car sat too long before it was sold/at 8,879 miles, i went in. after filling the gas tank & taking out the nozzle, gas spewed & bubbled out. the car stalled while driving slowly & while in park. indicator lights flashed. the malfunction indicator lamp and master warning lights stayed on. it took 5 min. to turn off the car. i started the car. those lights stayed on. i was told i left the trunk door open & ran down the battery. (not true.) there is a gasket around the access hole and if a person is a little bit off, the gas will regurgitate. (i was not off & did not top off the tank.) they reprogrammed the computer. the gas tank had not been filled so i knew they did not fill the gas tank and try to recreate the situation as they said they would. i bought gas at a different pump. i stopped at a stop light. i could feel a loss of power in the car. when i pushed the gas pedal, the car would not move. i turned the car off and on 3 times before it would move. it crept slowly through the intersection as the traffic signal turned red. i took the car in at 8,936 miles. i was told if my problem is associated with the battery that was taken out of my car, it is not at repair person's responsibility because he did not touch my battery. when a battery is disconnected for a certain amount of time, if something is not reset, it could cause problems. then, he said no trouble found/my car stalled and/or had a loss of power. i took it in at 9,014 miles. no trouble found. i was told that my problems could have been caused by a faulty gas pump overfilling my tank. the gas station is new. the manager said the pumps were inspected. if there were a faulty pump, everyone would have problems. *tr | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE - STORAGE | |||
| 03/02/2007 | 100 | 0 | 02/23/2007 |
| Vehicle does not achieve advertised fuel consumption performance. i have complained about this since the first service visit. today a factory technician got unachievable results suggesting that our real world experience after 29,000 miles with the vehicle is normal. he claimed to have gotten 66.984 mpg after a 42.2 miles of 55 mph highway and in town driving, noting only that an out of fuel fault had never been cleared. *tr | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE - STORAGE - TANK ASSEMBLY | |||
| 03/15/2007 | 20 | 01/29/2007 | |
| The flexible gas tank on the prius often fails to fill up all of the way to full. in cold weather the tank often fills only 8 gallons(when completely empty) and sometimes clicks off at 3 gallons or less and keeps clicking off until more gas is forced into the tank. the prius was brought in to the dealer and they looked into the tank issue and found nothing. there recommendation was to fill up on the slowest level and to tilt the gas nozzle to side or upside down to force more gas into the tank. this did not rectify the situation and the dealer could not offer any further remedy. the dealer will not do anything further to fix the situation. *tr | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE - STORAGE - TANK ASSEMBLY - FILLER PIPE AND CAP | |||
| 04/02/2007 | 50 | 3 | 03/24/2007 |
| Tl* the contact owns a 2007 toyota prius. he tried to put gas in vehicle and found that he couldn't fit the gas nozzle down into the opening, stopping three inches short. when he did try to put the gas into the vehicle the automatic shutoff on the gas nozzle didn't work on the prius. there was spillage when this happened on three different occasions using different gas companies. he contacted the dealership, and they had one of their department managers,go on a test drive with the contact, and he noticed the same problem that the gas nozzle didn't fit into the gas tank. he found in the door panel of the gas tank the instructions affecting the gas nozzle must be completely inserted so that spillage didn't occur. he spoke to toyota manufacturer, and they informed the contact that there was nothing that could be done, and was given case number 200704181013, and they directed him to speak to nhtsa. the contact was informed that there couldn't be any repairs because it was a design issue. with 600 miles. *ak | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER | |||
| 08/25/2010 | 57775 | ||
| Was driving at 30mph in residential area. no prior warnings of failure. 1. car turned off - not the power but the ability to drive or put in gear or run. car was non-driveable or moveable in any way for next 3 hours. 2. never happened before, problem unknown as the car works perfectly. 3. dealer said they had no explanation toyota prius 2007 stalled and would not start - had car towed to dealer and problem disappeared after 12 hours. they had no explanation | |||
| 07/04/2009 | 51400 | 1 | |
| Approximately 7 months ago my 2007 toyota prius began accelerating during use of the cruise control. i reported the problem to the dealership who said they have no fix for it. i can't use the cruise control in my car for fear the car will not stop accelerating. *tr | |||
| 03/15/2007 | 20 | 01/29/2007 | |
| The flexible gas tank on the prius often fails to fill up all of the way to full. in cold weather the tank often fills only 8 gallons(when completely empty) and sometimes clicks off at 3 gallons or less and keeps clicking off until more gas is forced into the tank. the prius was brought in to the dealer and they looked into the tank issue and found nothing. there recommendation was to fill up on the slowest level and to tilt the gas nozzle to side or upside down to force more gas into the tank. this did not rectify the situation and the dealer could not offer any further remedy. the dealer will not do anything further to fix the situation. *tr | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER - DELIVERY | |||
| 07/21/2007 | 25065 | 1 | 12/06/2006 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2007 toyota prius. the contact stated that he smelled gas inside the vehicle after driving it for a few weeks. the aroma intensified and he discovered a stream of fuel leaking from the rear of the vehicle. he took the vehicle to the dealer and they stated that a rodent chewed trough one of the fuel lines. he took the vehicle to another toyota dealer and they confirmed that a rodent caused the failure, however, the contact still did not believe the diagnosis. the vehicle was taken to a honda dealer and they stated that the sub assembly tube was improperly installed and came apart. the tube assembly was replaced. the manufacturer stated that they will honor the first dealer's diagnosis. the failure mileage was 25,065 and current mileage was 25,100. | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER - STORAGE | |||
| 06/15/2007 | 1000 | 1 | 05/22/2007 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2007 toyota prius. the owner's manual stated that the vehicle should hold 11.9 gallons of fuel, but it only holds 6.4 gallons. the dealer stated that nothing was wrong with the vehicle. the reset button is constantly pressed; therefore, no one can detect when the gas tank is near empty. the current mileage was 11,000 and failure mileage was 1,000. | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER - STORAGE - FUEL GAUGE SYSTEM | |||
| 03/02/2007 | 100 | 0 | 02/23/2007 |
| Vehicle does not achieve advertised fuel consumption performance. i have complained about this since the first service visit. today a factory technician got unachievable results suggesting that our real world experience after 29,000 miles with the vehicle is normal. he claimed to have gotten 66.984 mpg after a 42.2 miles of 55 mph highway and in town driving, noting only that an out of fuel fault had never been cleared. *tr | |||