Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 12/30/2012 | 108000 | 1 | |
| While engine running and in parked mode, engine suddenly raced as if gas pedal was depressed and vehicle lunged forward a few inches. *tr | |||
| 12/30/2012 | 108000 | ||
| While engine running and in parked mode, engine suddenly raced as if gas pedal was depressed and vehicle lunged forward a few inches. | |||
| 10/01/2009 | 1 | ||
| 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? *tr | |||
| 02/13/2010 | 19985 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| 12/15/2009 | 14000 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 09/15/2009 | 5000 | ||
| 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. | |||
| 02/17/2010 | 5000 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| 02/08/2010 | 10000 | 1 | |
| 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 *cn | |||
| 08/15/2009 | 7000 | 1 | |
| 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. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - LEVER AND LINKAGE - FLOOR SHIFT | |||
| 03/01/2010 | 36000 | ||
| 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. | |||
| 10/28/2009 | 7000 | ||
| 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. | |||
| POWER TRAIN - DRIVELINE | |||
| 05/20/2009 | 490 | 1 | |
| 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 | |||