On my 2004 Toyota Prius, the lights go out randomly. Of course, at night. I took it to two Toyota dealerships, and the first couldn't replicate the problem. The second dealership said the fix for one light would be an astonishing $850 because it's a defective electronic controller. Since my lights worked intermittently or after being turned on and off...and after searching the internet and discovering this defect is common. I'm thinking lights cutting out while driving, is quite dangerous, and it's a potential hazard for both drivers and pedestrians. Many Prius owners believe this is a product defect in need of a recall from Toyota before someone gets hurt.

- Springfield, MA, USA

I own a Toyota Prius 2004 and the headlights go on/off whenever they feel like it. When they go off if you turn the switch they go back on. Are there any other complaints on this issue?

- Merced, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Prius. While driving between 65-70 mph, the vehicle suddenly stalled and shut off completely. The electronics of the vehicle were still operating, but the vehicle itself could not be restarted. The vehicle then shifted itself into park. The hazard lights in the vehicle began running off the auxiliary battery, which is a low power battery. In addition, the hazard lights turned off. The contact called Toyota, but they were unable to assist. The vehicle was towed to a dealer. The battery was jumped and the vehicle was restarted. A diagnostic was performed and the vehicle ran normally for six weeks before the failure recurred. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer again and they stated that there was smoke coming from the fuse box, which meant a fuse was blown. After replacing the fuse box, the vehicle performed normally. The technicians were unable to find any other failures with the vehicle; however, the contact does not want to drive it due to fear of the failure recurring. The vehicle has been repaired, but is still at the dealer. The failure mileage was 46,000 and current mileage was 47,500.

- Cincinatti, OH, USA

Multi-function monitor display intermittent blank out. No display for multi-function display unit. It occurs very often since January 2008.

- Mountain View, CA, USA

The digital dashboard which includes the speedometer, odometer/tripmeter, shift indicator and fuel gauge goes blank. This creates a safety hazard especially during night or poor weather driving, and when shifting. My local Toyota service department manager acknowledged that Toyota knows this is a common problem, but refused to fix it at no cost. The service manager also told me that he must impound my car until the new part is installed. He said that federal law required this as the new odometer must be set at the distributor before being shipped to the service department. This would cost approximately $800. Luckily for me the display came on during troubleshooting and I refused further service at that time. Now, a month or so later, the display shut off again and I am only driving the car during daylight hours.

- Huntington, WV, USA

High intensity discharge headlights intermittently going out. No rhyme or reason as to when the outage occurs but turning the circuit off and back on again will re-illuminate the hid headlight...but for how long??

- Trout Run, PA, USA

The multi-function display (mfd) failed. (cross reference NHTSA complaint #10173892). This is a known design defect (cross reference analysis on web: techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/compare.html and techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/). Toyota issued a technical service bulletin (either el-002-04 or el-002-05 - conflicting info on this) on Jan 10, 2005. When the mfd fails, one cannot control the amount of airflow to the windshield (defroster). This presented me with visibility problems during the morning commute. As such, I consider it a safety issue. Toyota has been aware of this for 3 years, given the date of their tsb. The root cause appears to be an undersized solder pad on one of the electronic cards of the mfd. This results in a cracking of the solder joint. Because my problem was intermittent, coming and going on a frequent basis, I presume it was a micro crack. This does not help when the windshield is fogging over. All of the various error messages that were displayed on the mfd were consistent with the information on the above referenced web url's. the problem is with the release F of the electronic card assembly and was corrected with release G. there are pictorial comparisons between the two releases on one of the web url's. given that this has an impact on visibility during the winter months, I am shocked that Toyota chose to sit on this problem. The supplier of this part to Toyota is fujitsu.

- Sebastopol, CA, USA

I was quoted $466 just for the price of my bulb for the headlight of my Toyota Prius. For a non luxury car it so expensive that a lot of people will choose to make due with their flickering one. It is outrageous that Toyota did not give a more affordable choice. It is going to be more dangerous out there.

- Tallahassee, FL, USA

Erratic loss of pc use, touch screen, audio deactivated, no picture at all dealer wants $980 to replace with refurbished and $4000 for new. Worried about all the other dot troubled listings of total electrical power loss.

- Appleton, WI, USA

On December 25, 2007 when I started my car it locked up with a christmas tree like effect all of the lights came on and I could not shut the car off. All of the gears were engaged according to the display and the car was in slooooow motion forwards. Not even a crawling speed. Imperceptibly slow forwards. It would not shut off nor would it do anything that would allow me to control the motion of the car except use the brake to hold it in place. I had a scan gauge connected to the obd port and was able to pull the following codes from it: U0293 and P0A1D. I have been told that the first code means lost communication with hv ECU and the second code means hv ECU malfunction. The outdoor air temperature was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Only the use of the scan tool code reset allowed me to power the vehicle off. Otherwise I would have had to place the vehicle up against an immovable object to keep it under control.

- Franklin Park, IL, USA

While driving Prius on major highway in dfw metroplex during evening rush hour the warning light came on, then a couple seconds later, entire dash board information screen and all warning lights flashed. Car engine continued to run, and would not turn off, but no power was available to steering or brakes. This problem occurred at the apex of a bridge. However, was able to coast the car into the median between the merge ramp of the major highway and the interstate. Very dangerous situation if it had occurred before apex of the bridge. )called the dealership, who in turn, called a tow truck. Had to basically play with power button, brake, and gear shift to get it into neutral so the car could be loaded onto the tow truck. Took dealer three days to diagnose the problem. It was blamed on a short in auxiliary battery. However, it seemed to be working okay. This was the third time occurrence such as this happened to this car, as well as a non-functioning driver information screen, that if the car was hot inside then information screen worked, if no, then the screen stated no connection to air conditioning, which occurred since first time the shut down happened. Thought this problem was supposed to be fixed with the software upgrade that they installed after the last occurrence. It appeared that this defect happened every 18,000 miles. Now there is 79,000 miles on the car.

- Forney, TX, USA

2004 Toyota Prius having problems starting.* the consumer stated after several tries, the vehicle started, however when he shifted into the drive, the engine raced and the vehicle lurched forward rapidly, even though the accelerator had not been applied. The consumer was unable to stop the vehicle by using the brakes. The vehicle continued forward about 25 feet and crashed into a garage. The consumer received minor scratches to his knee. The consumer also noted that the air bags did not deploy.

- Madison, WI, USA

: the contact stated the vehicle did not start after being parked overnight. There was no response from either the engine or electrical system. The vehicle was jump-started and taken to a service dealer, where the vehicle failed again. The dealer was unable to determine the problem. The manufacturer was notified, who stated that the failure was due to driver error.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

Touch screen on 2004 Toyota Prius is defective and fails to work which leaves me with no heat at times and inability to see if my battery is operating properly, this is an ongoing Toyota problem with complaints all over the web by Prius owners.

- Shelburne Falls, MA, USA

My 2004 Toyota Prius electrical display (touch screen) has 'shorted out' with a loud ticking noise through the speakers. It has been in the springfield, va Toyota shop twice, and it is continuing to happen. The screen goes dark, and then there is no access to the defroster, gps, etc. They all become non-functional.

- Springfield, VA, USA

2004 Toyota Prius electrical problems. I have been experiencing severe electrical problems with my 2004 Toyota Prius and they have gotten more severe after the Toyota dealer uploaded new code that was supposed to fix a recall. Problems include loss of display, loss of control of climate system, radio turns itself off, and occasionally there is loss of power at low speeds which is sometimes fixed by a reboot of the car. After the last loss of power, the car then responded by the gas engine revving very high and not responding to the gas pedal - yet the car was not traveling any faster.

- Flourtown, PA, USA

I turned left into driveway of a home- driveway has an incline. I turned off power and two children exited car. One passenger returned within five min and sat in front. I placed foot on brake. Brake felt "locked" with no give. I pressed power button with foot on brake, and placed gear in reverse. I let foot off brake to roll slowly out of driveway. When I attempted to brake to slow exit, my foot went all the way to floor--no power. I notice gear was neutral. Power would not turn off. Car was rolling closer toward a busy four lane street. I noticed the power button light color was red, and the following yellow warning indicators were lit: Brake system warning light, malfunction indicator lamp, anti-lock brake system warning light, slip indicator light. I depressed the emergency brake to stop. I told my 14 Y/O passenger to exit the car and when she did the master warning light came on while the above lights remained lit. The brake continued to depress to the floor. I again attempted to turn off the power without success. I exited the vehicle with my smart entry key in hand and as expected loud buzzing noise came on. I then contacted Toyota roadside assistance. The reference number is 269-568-6678. I called back later to change the reference number to 269-492-2066. I had asked for police assistance for traffic control, but the police did not show. On 9/6 a.M., jim at metro Toyota service, kalamazoo, mi called & I described the above to him. At 1530 on 9/6/06, I described my experience to marvin at Toyota customer relation. The case number he provided was 200609051137. This is the second like incident with this vehicle. I did not report the first incident to the NHTSA which occurred a few months after I took possession of the then new 2004 Toyota Prius. No reason was found for the first incident, by the same dealership service. The consumer stated the vehicle accelerated on its own. Also, when the consumer applied the brakes, the pedal became soft and went down to the floor. Updated

- Portage, MI, USA

I have a 2004 Toyota Prius I purchased used last Feb (06). Starting the car does not immediately bring up the dash display. It remains blank, however I can shift into gear. The power steering is off as well. I restart and restart and eventually the dash will pop on. The car is drivable but all the warning lights are not. Not at once though. The red triangle with the ! in between is always present but sometimes it is joined by the check engine light or the ABS failure light. The Toyota dealership is still trying to figure out what's going on.

- Everett, WA, USA

: the contact stated while driving 35mph, the master warning and check engine light illuminated followed by the vehicle operating at a reduced speed. The vehicle continued operation for about a mile before eventually stalling. The vehicle would not restart, but remained in electric mode. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it is currently awaiting inspection. Contact requested to delete the complaint from the system because it was a mistake.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

: the contact stated on December 6 2005, a recall remedy was performed for the engine. In January, all the warning lights in the vehicle illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a service dealer and the problem with the warning lights was fixed. However, the warning lights defect recurred in both February and March. The dealer was consulted after the second recurrence and was unable to determine the cause of the problem. Updated 3/29/2006 - the ABS light illuminated in the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times for them to fix the problem. Each time the vehicle was returned to the consumer the problem recurred.

- Naranjito, PR, USA