Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 10/05/2012 | 92000 | 1 | |
| When i put the car in drive, it slips back into neutral. in order to drive the car, i must hold the lever in the drive position. the dealer is charging me $500 to fix but i believe this is a defect and a safety problem and should be addressed by the manufacturer. i have read many examples of this problem on toyotanation.com under 2008 prius won't stay in gear. *tr | |||
| 10/05/2012 | 92000 | ||
| When i put the car in drive, it slips back into neutral. in order to drive the car, i must hold the lever in the drive position. the dealer is charging me $500 to fix but i believe this is a defect and a safety problem and should be addressed by the manufacturer. i have read many examples of this problem on toyotanation.com under 2008 prius won't stay in gear | |||
| 09/28/2012 | 71000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated while driving the gear would shift into neutral on its own. the contact shifted back into drive gear but the failure recurred. the vehicle was taken to a dealer for inspection and they stated that the lever assembly needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. the failure mileage was 71,000. the vin was unavailable. rvk | |||
| 09/28/2012 | 71000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that while driving the vehicle, the gear shift would shift into neutral on its own. the contact shifted back into drive but the failure recurred. the vehicle was taken to a dealer for inspection and they stated that the lever assembly needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified but provided not assistance. the failure mileage was 71,000. the vin was unavailable. ap | |||
| 06/02/2012 | 52000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle could only be shifted into neutral. the contact also stated that the vehicle shifted into neutral independently and would not shift into drive, reverse or park. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they were unable to replicate the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vehicle was then taken to another dealer where the shift lever assembly was replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 52,000. | |||
| 06/02/2012 | 52000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle could only be shifted into neutral. the contact also stated that the vehicle shifted into neutral independently and would not shift into drive, reverse or park. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they were unable to replicate the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vehicle was then taken to another dealer where the shift lever assembly was replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 52,000. kmj | |||
| 06/02/2012 | 52000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle could only be shifted into neutral. the contact also stated that the vehicle shifted into neutral on its own and would not shift into drive, reverse, or park. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and they were unable to replicate the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vehicle was then taken to another dealer and the shift lever assembly was replaced. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 52,000. sm. | |||
| 05/16/2012 | 66500 | ||
| The car shifts from both r (reverse) and d (drive) to n (neutral) for no apparent reason. this usually happens after first getting into the car. i'll shift into r, and it will drop to n. same for d. this can happen a few times each time. usually, when i hold it in place long enough to start moving over 3 mph, it seems fine and i do not need to continue holding the shift lever. however, lots of reports online, and i am a bit concerned that this will happen more often. this has not happened while actively driving (always in parking lots so far). it may be related to heat, as most occurrences have been on hot days, but not exclusively. this seems to be a defect in the 2008 prius. | |||
| 06/05/2012 | 41876 | ||
| After 10 minutes of city street driving, the car was idling in park for 2 minutes. the car was then put into drive and the brake slowly released. as soon as the engine turned over to assist the battery drive, the shift knob bounced into neutral and the dash indicated neutral as well. with the brake on, the shift knob could be placed back into drive and the dash indicated drive. the car stayed in drive for the first second before the engine turned over then slipped back into neutral. this repeated 4 more times. placing the car in park, turning off the air conditioning, and powering down the car did not prevent the car from slipping into neutral. the car stayed in drive only by holding the shift knob in the drive position. after the 3 minute drive home holding the shift knob in drive, the problem did not repeat. later that evening and the next day the problem did not repeat. it was approximately 80 degrees f on the afternoon of the occurrence and the car had been parked in the sun for 7 hours, the air conditioning was running at the time of the occurrence. | |||
| 07/15/2011 | 79359 | ||
| Vehicle will not stay in gear, usually hot days when it happen. weather its in rev or drive it will shift back to neutral. it started july 2011. took it to dealer they could not duplicate. now yesterday may 27th it happen again. you would have to hold down or up gear shift to have gear stay in place. | |||
| 05/03/2012 | |||
| I stopped at my mailbox yesterday and put the car in park. when i got back in the car and attempted to drive away the car slipped into neutral all by itself. i put it back in drive and again it slipped into neutral. it did this 5 times before i finally held the knob down into drive so i could get the car home into my driveway. when i started the car this morning it seemed to work fine, but i am finding tons of reports on the internet of people experiencing the exact same problem and even a you tube video of a lady who documented when it happened to her. | |||
| 08/16/2011 | 63457 | ||
| My 2008 toyota prius pops out of drive into neutral sporadically. i have to hold the gear selector in the drive position with my right hand while i drive one handed with my left. | |||
| 05/03/2012 | |||
| I stopped at my mailbox yesterday and put the car in park. when i got back in the car and attempted to drive away the car slipped into neutral all by itself. i put it back in drive and again it slipped into neutral. it did this 5 times before i finally held the knob down into drive so i could get the car home into my driveway. when i started the car this morning it seemed to work fine, but i am finding tons of reports on the internet of people experiencing the exact same problem and even a you tube video of a lady who documented when it happened to her. | |||
| 08/16/2011 | 63457 | ||
| My 2008 toyota prius pops out of drive into neutral sporadically. i have to hold the gear selector in the drive position with my right hand while i drive one handed with my left. | |||
| 05/03/2012 | |||
| I stopped at my mailbox yesterday and put the car in park. when i got back in the car and attempted to drive away the car slipped into neutral all by itself. i put it back in drive and again it slipped into neutral. it did this 5 times before i finally held the knob down into drive so i could get the car home into my driveway. when i started the car this morning it seemed to work fine, but i am finding tons of reports on the internet of people experiencing the exact same problem and even a you tube video of a lady who documented when it happened to her. | |||
| 08/16/2011 | 63457 | ||
| My 2008 toyota prius pops out of drive into neutral sporadically. i have to hold the gear selector in the drive position with my right hand while i drive one handed with my left. | |||
| 01/07/2012 | 36000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle was stopped and shut off when it began to drive forward. the vehicle continued to drive forward and drove behind a building before crashing into bushes. the contact also stated that she left the keys in the ignition when she shut the vehicle off, but the vehicle was shut off while shifted in the park position. upon locating the crashed vehicle, the contact stated that the keys were in the ignition and the vehicle was still shifted in park. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 36,000. | |||
| 01/07/2012 | 36000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle was stopped and shut off when it began to drive forward. the vehicle continued to drive forward and drove behind a building before crashing into bushes. the contact also stated that she left the keys in the ignition when she shut the vehicle off, but the vehicle was shut off while shifted in the park position. upon locating the crashed vehicle, the contact stated that the keys were in the ignition and the vehicle was still shifted in park. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 36,000. kmj | |||
| 01/07/2012 | 36000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the vehicle was stopped and shut off when it began to drive forward. the vehicle continued to drive forward and drove behind a building before crashing into bushes. the contact also stated that she left the keys in the ignition when she shut the vehicle off, but the vehicle was shut off while shifted in the park position. upon locating the crashed vehicle, the contact stated that the keys were in the ignition and the vehicle was still shifted in park. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 36,000. sm. | |||
| 08/15/2010 | 52000 | ||
| Car will not stay in drive after it has been idling, in park, on a hot day. when getting back in car and putting the car in drive, it slips back to neutral after accelerator pedal is pressed. car goes a few feet then slips back to neutral. after putting it back into drive and pressing the pedal again, it slips back to neutral. the only solution is to shut the car off completely and restart after 15-20 minutes. this has twice left me nosed out into a busy street. i first tried to resolve this issue with my local dealership, coad toyota, on 9/17/10 (invoice 15104). they claimed they could not duplicate the problem and said they had never heard of it even though i brought them several internet accounts of others who reported the exact same problem. this year, when the problem started again with the hot weather, i reported it to toyota usa (case # 110 803 0664). they also said they've never heard of the problem before and insisted that i must have the problem duplicated at the dealership. so, i returned to my dealership but this time with a dvd copy of the problem that i had taken with my movie camera. this dvd shows the issue perfectly. they responded that a toyota tech has found an upgrade that they can provide me for $240 labor. they commented that my car had 52,000 miles on it when the problem first started so they're being really nice in providing the part upgrade. it's almost as if they're saying that at 52,000 miles i shouldn't expect the transmission to stay in gear!?!? i told them that the power-train is warrented for 100,000 miles and if this isn't a power-train issue i don't know what is. futhermore, they may regard it as an upgrade but i regard it as a safety defect that should be replaced by toyota at no charge. i have a copy of the dvd, clearly showing the issue, that i would be happy to provide to you. thank you for your time. | |||
| 06/20/2011 | 109000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph when the vehicle suddenly placed itself into neutral. after trying to move the gear shifter, it wouldn't budge. the vehicle was then inspected by a dealer and they advised her that the shifter needed to replaced due to an electrical failure. the vehicle has not been inspected. the manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. the failure and current mileages were approximately 109,000. tb | |||
| 07/10/2009 | 15000 | ||
| 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. | |||
| 04/01/2010 | 1 | 12/07/2007 | |
| 2008 toyota prius. consumer states fault in vehicle *tgw the consumer stated he backed out of a parking space, shifted into drive and the vehicle refused to respond to drive as he pressed the accelerator. it seemed the brake was on. a master fault appeared on the screen. it said batteries will not charge if let in the neutral position. after several tries, it finally responded. *jb | |||
| 04/05/2010 | 17285 | 1 | |
| Last night about 6:00pm cst. my gas pedal stuck on my 2008 toyota. i was at a used car dealership looking at trucks. i got out of the prius to look at a truck. i got back into the car put it in drive and when i took off the pedal stuck to the floor. i put the shifter into neutral stopped the car, put it back into drive and the pedal was still stuck. once again i put the shifter into neutral, stopped the car and put the shifter into park, adjusted the floor mat (i don't know if the mat was the problem or not) then put the shifter into drive and it was fine. i sure it is not related but i had just had the car in the shop (smart motors) the previous week to adjust the tire pressure light. *tr | |||
| 03/09/2010 | 39055 | ||
| I left my 2008 toyota prius running and had to run back into a home where i'd just left a sales appointment. eventhough i had the key fob in my pocket, i noticed out of the corner of my eye as i was crossing the street back towards the house that my car was careening into the buick parked across the street. i ran and jumped in and steered it away from t-boning the parked buick, but could not keep it the driver's side of the prius from scraping along the driver's side corner of the buick's rear bumper. | |||
| 02/04/2010 | 20 | 2 | |
| I own a 2008 toyota prius which surges ahead when i am braking under certain conditions: wet, uneven surfaces, and bumpy roads. it is scary because i nearly hit someone at a stop sign and i feel out of control when it does this. on average, happens 1-2x week. it happens when my foot is off the gas pedal and i am under 20 mph. it seems like a computer error and not accelerator related. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 07/02/2011 | 57700 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. while parked the contact stated the gear shifter would not move from neutral to drive. the failure occurs intermittently. the failure would occur when the gear shifter was in reverse also. the contact shut the vehicle off and after several attempts was able to move the gear shifter to the desired gear. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 57,700. ds | |||
| 05/09/2011 | 94000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated that the gear shift interlock had to be depressed in order to unlock and shift the vehicle into any gear. if the button was not depressed, the vehicle would not recognize he gear and place the vehicle in neutral. the contact stated that in order to drive forward or in reverse, the button had to be abnormally held down while driving until the vehicle was shut off. if the button was not depressed, the vehicle would shift into neutral independently. the vehicle was not inspected or repaired for the failure. the failure and current mileage was 94,000. | |||
| 05/09/2011 | 94000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. the contact stated there is a lever on the gear shift that has to be pressed in order to put the vehicle in gear. the contact stated if you do not press the lever, the computer will not acknowledge the shift and place the vehicle in neutral. the contact stated that you can drive the vehicle in drive or reverse, but you have to keep you hand held on the gear shift. the vehicle had not been inspected at the time of the complaint. the failure mileage and current mileages were 94,000.rl | |||
| 06/16/2010 | 85800 | ||
| I am having a recurring transmission problem on a 2008 prius that seems to be a very similar problem to one described by other prius owners. when the car is warm (warm day, drive for longer than 15 minutes) the transmission can slip out of drive (or reverse) into neutral. it will do this repeatedly and not allow to proceed in gear until you turn off the ignition for some minutes. the car will operate if you manually push the gear shift lever into driver and hold it there continuously until you reach your destination. i will take it into toyota for service but i do think it may be an engineering or design flaw with the transmission. the experience of other drivers (including a video link for the same exact problem) can be found online here: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3233114#post3233114 | |||
| 04/25/2010 | 12000 | ||
| Severe safety concerns with a 2008 prius are the following: the answers and solutions to the following are necessary before anyone could be considered safe driving this 2008 prius: 1.why did our prius have a power failure on april 13th while driving at 60 mph on a flat stretch of hwy 101 going north at the blithedale exit in mill valley, ca? 2.why while driving up divisidero around 11:30 or 12 noon on april 25, 2010 did the car begin beeping loudly when going up the hill in pacific heights? 3. why did it then start making two different beeping sounds? we then pulled over and found that the transmission indicated that it had jumped into reverse even though the car was still going forward. we had not touched the shift lever, both hands were on the wheel. it jumped into reverse by itself. 4.why , after we then returned the shift to drive, were we able to go further up the hill and the loud beeping started again while the transmission was still in drive? we stopped the car and kept a foot on the brake pedal until help arrived. aaa came. aaa drove the car without beeping to a more level part of the street to load it upon a truck and arried the car to the san francisco geary toyota service center. they have yet [5.20.10] to accurately diagnose and correct these problems so it is safe to drive. | |||
| 03/10/2010 | 1 | ||
| After reading about the run a way prius in san diego monday, i attempted to put my prius in neutral. neutral does not exist or does not work. while accelerating one cannot put the prius in neutral. this is a concern. i called the dealer and the rep said that prius' are a breed all there own and pretty much agreed that the neutral did not work. people should know this. *tr | |||
| 08/12/2009 | 18000 | 1 | |
| I own a 2008 toyota prius. several months ago i started to experience a problem with the vehicle. when i travel in reverse and then stop to go forward, the vehicle doesn't move when i shift it to forward. when stopped, i have returned the shifter to reverse and it doesn't move. if i turn off the car and place it in drive, it moves. i believe it's a electrical problem because the shifter doesn't have linkage and its electric. it doesn't happen all the time and has occurred on four different occasions. when i brought the car to the dealer for service, nothing was found because it wasn't occurring at the time. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2010 | 22000 | 1 | |
| With the motor running, the transmission in park and the emergency brake set, the car lurched forward. the engine was warm at the time. on another occasion with the transmission in reverse and the brake pedal depressed, the car lurched rearward almost striking a pedestrian. *tr | |||
| 01/28/2009 | 300 | 1 | |
| 2008 toyota prius loses all power when traction control engages. *tr | |||
| 09/15/2009 | 55 | 1 | |
| Sep. 1st i was driving my 2008 prius and it started shifting by itself from drive into neutral and one time even from drive into neutral into reverse. this happened after i pulled off the highway on an exit ramp and then slowed to a stop in order to get onto the local road. on the prius, when you put the shift into the drive position, the shifting knob then returns to its starting position, but the car is supposed to remain in the drive gear. my car wouldn't do that. about 2 seconds after i put it in drive and then applied the gas, it would shift out of drive and into neutral.. the only way i could drive the vehicle was by manually holding the shifting knob in the drive position the entire trip home (25 miles). when i got home and tried to put it in park, it wouldn't do it. it did go into park however, when i powered off the vehicle. the next day i was able to drive the vehicle by hanging a heavy metal shop clamp around the shifting knob in order to hold it in the drive position. i called the nearest toyota dealership, which is griffith motors in the dalles, oregon. they said they had never heard of this happening before and to bring it in. i also called a much larger (and farther) toyota dealership in gresham, oregon. they said no one had ever heard of that happening either. i waited until the following day to taken the car into the closer dealership in the dalles (sep rd), but the car was no longer doing its weird thing. they said they checked it out thoroughly with the computer diagnostic system and could find nothing wrong. they said there were no codes in the system indicating that anything was wrong. it drove fine until sep 15th, when at approx. 4 pm it suddenly started shifting into neutral at a busy intersection in kennewick, wa, and i then had a collision with another vehicle. no one was hurt, but the car is now in a body shop. i googled this problem and found a person on consumeraffairs.com who's prius is doing the same thing. suggestions. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) | |||
| 05/16/2009 | 32000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2008 toyota prius. whenever the vehicle runs out of fuel, the gear shifter becomes difficult to maneuver. the vehicle becomes nearly impossible to move or placed into neutral to push to a safe spot. the owners manual does not contain information regarding this failure. the contact stated that it takes a minimum of three gallons of gasoline in order for the vehicle to restart. the dealer stated that they did not have to notify consumers of this issue. the contact found numerous complaints for the same failure that he experienced and believes that it is a serious safety hazard. the vin was unknown. the current and failure mileages were 32,000. | |||