Hybrid system shuts down while driving without warning and happens every day

- New Johnsonville, TN, USA

Car stalls out and won't accelerate

- Duluth, GA, USA

I was driving down a city road at 25-30 mph at dusk (5:15pm), and with my headlights on. The first indication of a problem was the smell of burning rubber when I turned on the heater. Assuming the problem was with another vehicle ahead of me, I turned off the heater and kept driving. A mile later, as I was nearing my destination, I noticed several warning lights turn on (skid light and exclamation mark light) and the steering became less responsive. I then saw smoke emitting from under my hood. A few seconds later, the front passenger-side corner of the car burst into flames. I managed to pull over, woke up my two young children from their car seats, and got everyone out. Within a minute, the entire hood was ablaze. Given where the fire started, I suspect the headlight. I replaced it the day before. The light seemed to work fine for 1 day, but it is suspicious that is also the area where the fire started.

- Concord, MA, USA

Car was being driven about 15-20 mph when it just stopped with a jolt as if it had been hit from behind. Car would not move. Towed to shop where it was diagnosed as bad inverter.

- Belvedere, CA, USA

As a safety professional, I have a safety concern on the inverter not operating correctly and putting me, my family, and the general public in harms way. I am therefore holding National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota corporation responsible here on forward. I am driving my vehicle in California busy freeways.

- Fontana, CA, USA

Engine warning light at start up came on with no degradation of operation. Car was taken to originating manufacture dealer for diagnosis. When car was purchased as certified pre-owned the sales rep upsold extended 3rd party warranty coverage that they said 'would cover everything including diagnosis labor fees.' When vehicle was diagnosed from dealer service dept they said it was faulty O2 sensor, caused 'by rodent damage to cable'. no validation or evidence of this was provided; cable/parts not presented for inspection to customer. Customer was told lack of sensor would result in reduced gas milage. Customer asked about safety of vehicle and was told vehicle was safe to drive without part repair. Customer asked if repair was covered under warranty and was told that it was not. Customer declined repair at that time; customer was forced to pay ~$150 labor charge for inspection. Customer returned at a late time to complete repair. Again no evidence of part failure was presented and repair cost ~$400 was forced to be paid. Customer then found extended warranty coverage documents and called them to ask why repair was not covered as program documentation and contract seemed to include coverage of this issue; provider noted that dealer did not call to authorize repair at no cost to customer and customer should submit paperwork to provider for review. Customer further researched on internet the issue and found multiple reports of faulty wiring and is concerned for safety of operation due to manufacture material flaws that allow animal damage to critical wiring of car.

- Palos Hts, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2013 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 50 mph and attempting to stop the vehicle, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the front end of the vehicle began to swerve and vibrate. The ECU sensor indicator illuminated and the brakes failed. The driver was unable to immediately stop the vehicle. The vehicle eventually stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. The vehicle was driven directly to allen jay Toyota (40 us hwy 27 North, seabring, fl) who initially was unable to determine the cause of the failure. After retrieving the vehicle, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the ECU was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and no solution was offered. The failure mileage was 90,000.

- Seabring, FL, USA

On Jan 2, 2017, I attempted to start my 2013 Toyota Prius. The vehicle dash had the following warning lights illuminated, check hybrid, electronic power steering warning, brake warning light and the master warning light. The vehicle would not shift into drive or reverse and would only default to the neutral position. Upon opening the hood of the engine compartment I noticed the wiring to the hybrid inverter had been extensively damaged (chewed, gnawed) to the extent that the physical wires were touching each other and possibly shorting or grounding to each other. My vehicle was towed to stevenson Toyota West located at 780 Indiana St, lakewood, co. On Jan 3, 2017. On Jan 4, 2017 I was contacted by service advisor mike hashman who told me the damage was caused by a rodent(s) chewing on the wiring. The damage was as follows: Hv invertor wires (2) were damaged, A/C compressor hv wire was damaged, invertor coolant tank were all replaced because or extensive damage. Along with invertor coolant and labor the total cost of the repair was $1,279.63. We have a $1,000 deductible policy so our total cost was the deductible. I have since discovered that Toyota has been, since approximately 2009 through 2016 and possibly 2017, been using soy based wiring covering and cable wrap which is very attractive to rodents. In our case the rodent would be brown squirrels. I have also found a class action lawsuit filed on Jan. 6, 2017, in the us district court for the western district of Washington, alleging Toyota has known of the problem but has refused steadfastly refused to accept responsibility. My concern is had the catastrophic failure of the electronics occurred while I was driving the consequences could have been fatal to myself, passengers and others occupying vehicles next to or near me because of the power steering and brake errors. The vehicle was parked in our driveway.

- Westminster, CO, USA

The contact owns a 2013 Toyota Prius. While driving at approximately 20 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to a dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileages was 21,934.

- San Jose, CA, USA

Display disappears. Display black/dark. Display brightness: Zero. From dark parking lot into bright sunshine. Started car which was parked in the shaded parking lot of mall. Display ok/bright (as should be). Drove to exit of parking lot: Display is fine (as should be). Drive car from exit of shaded parking lot into bright sunlight outside. The display goes dark. I got worried, and drove in bright sunlight in the residential area around parking lot for twenty minutes, circling the area slowly. After driving for twenty two minutes, the display was still dark, but the car was running fine without any problems whatsoever. Decided to drive towards my home without stopping the car, as I did not want the Prius to stall in a place far from home. On the freeway, (still bright sunlight), I decided to try the brightness control switch. I barely touched the brightness control switch, and the dashboard brightness came back. I had lost the display twice previously., I had switched the engine off/on with the power button, to restore the brightness. If you have similar display brightness problem, the easy solution is to touch the brightness control switch.

- South San Francisco, CA, USA

First, understand there was no accident, no one got hurt, and it didn't cost me a dime. The dealer and warranty picked up the full tab. All it cost me was a little aggravation. However, I feel it should not have happened. It started when I had a flat tire. I removed the flat and put on the spare, no problem. The tire had a sidewall puncture so first thing Monday I took it to gk tire & auto for replacement. They mounted a new tire and put the spare back in the trunk. That is where things went wrong. My Prius would not start. I called the dealer. The dealer sent a tow truck and hauled the Prius off. The next day they called to say it was fixed. The service ticket said "pulled code P0A0D...cleared codes, and checked service plug. Found partially pulled out."... "installed service plug all the way and test drove vehicle. Good, done". because gk tire had no reason to be anywhere but in the trunk I assume that is where the 'service plug' is and they knocked it out of place when they re stowed the spare. My problem is that if the tire people could do that, then I might have done that. And, if I had done that it could have been in the middle of no where, or even worse, the cross bronx expressway. I would not expect that I would have to treat the tire compartment of a trunk like a fine swiss watch. If that was the problem, I consider it a design deficiency. When gk tire put it on the lift? still a design deficiency. It should not have happened.

- Maize, KS, USA

Smart key was in car and car locked anyway from door activation. Car isn't supposed to lock if key is in car. I called dealership but they offered no assistance. A second key had to be brought from home and used to gain entry. Fortunately, no child or animal was in car as weather was in upper 70S so excessive heat could have been a problem.

- Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Dashboard lights continually to lose its display lighting. Dashboard goes dark and can remain that way for many miles. Dealership says dashboard lights work as designed. This will happen with headlights on and during the day. Driving under a shaded area (such as under an over pass or a sign) the dashboard lights will go out completely dark and sometimes return to normal after returning to the sun light area. Recently the dashboard lights did not return to normal after going under a shade sign (during the day) and I continued to drive for over 5 miles. Turning the car off and on returned the dash board lights to normal or adjusting the brightness of the dashboard lights with the switch while driving. Dealership has looked at this issue over 3 times and has indicated the dash board lights work the same as other 2013 Prius. I can provide a video showing the dash board lights going complete dark.

- Westbrook, ME, USA

When I turn on the low beam of the headlights there is a significant shadow on the upper half of the windshield. It greatly diminishes visibility. When I took the car in for its 6 months service a few weeks ago they acknowledged the problem but said there is nothing that can be done to fix it.

- Sebastopol, CA, USA

The contact owns 2013 Toyota Prius 5. the contact stated that whenever she was driving in reverse, the vehicle would jerk violently. In addition, the interior dome light would illuminate sporadically. The contact stated that all of the lights on the instrument panel and radio console failed to illuminate after starting the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 3,000. The current mileage was 10,900.

- Brooksfield, FL, USA

Every time I received call on my cell bluetooth seems like voice breaking up. It is not the phone problem. I have checked the same phone in my other cars and works fine. This bluetooth needs software upgrade.

- Glendale, CA, USA

While driving on the freeway the car's dash lit up and the car's engine died and then restarted. The fuel quantity displayed, decreased by three bars before returning to it's normal--accurate--level. The car then drove normally and allowed me to get it into the driveway.

- Shalimar, FL, USA

While slowing down for a red light the car's electronics made a beeping noise, all the dash lights came on, the gas gauge displayed a rapidly dropping quantity, then went back up to half full. A red triangle was displayed on the dash during this time. During this time, the car was completely disabled and unable to move and was sitting in the intersection. I tried multiple times to restart the car, the dash lights would come on, but the car wasn't actually running or responding to pedal inputs. After 7 minutes the car finally started back up and I was able to drive to the dealership. I left the car's engine running (ev mode while parked) and they hooked it up to the computer. They said everything was fine and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. This has happened before, and it happened again, two days after the dealership gave me my car back (they kept it that weekend).

- Shalimar, FL, USA

While driving the car--on numerous occasions--the dash lights all illuminate at once, followed by unresponsive controls for a few seconds. Then the dash lights go out (return to normal) and normal controls and acceleration return.

- Shalimar, FL, USA

When putting the vehicle in reverse a loud beeping is heard inside the cabin. We aren't sure of its purpose as the beeping cannot be heard outside of the car if the windows are up or if the windows are down and the radio is on. The beep can only be faintly heard outside of the vehicle if the windows are down and there is no other noise. Because the beeping is so loud in the vehicle, the driver cannot hear shouts, screams or other distress signals to alert them of a hazard when backing up. The beeping is loud and constant and is not affected by the nearness of an object, as with other vehicle beeping backup systems. The loud beeping creates a hazard by distracting the driver and not alerting people outside of the vehicle.

- Lincoln, NE, USA