Automotive News, Media & Press - Prius Problems

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-04-22/news/the-flip-side-of-the-perfect-prius/1

Uh-oh its not easy being on top is it?

"You get these customers that say, 'I stood on the brake with all my might and the car just kept on accelerating.' They're not stepping on the brake," says Toyota corporate spokesman Bill Kwong. "People are so under stress right now, people have so much on their minds. With pagers and cell phones and IM, people are just so busy with kids and family and boyfriends and girlfriends. So you're driving along and the next thing you know you're two miles down the road and you don't remember driving, because you're thinking about something else."

i love it how Toyota blames the acceleration problems on "busy" people, i would be scared shitless if i knew my car drove off on its own

As if I didn't hate those things enough.......

that and rusty trucks,,,they are suckin a big one latley

i love it how Toyota blames the acceleration problems on "busy" people, i would be scared shitless if i knew my car drove off on its own

I like how Toyota thinks everyone that buys their cars are morons.

man you guys are harsh aren't ya.

I like how Toyota thinks everyone that buys their cars are morons.
You mean there's people that aren't morons that buy Toyotas?

On a side note, this is particularly scary for myself, because I'm a valet, and I drive quite a few of these each week. In the city, uncontrollable acceleration would be catastrophically bad.

Problem with the prius you can't just turn the key to turn it off. Pushbutton start ftl.... I do prefer a manual, guaranteed way of shutting off the engine.

Or Stacey Josefowicz in Anthem, Arizona, who bought her new Prius in May 2007. A couple of months later, driving down a four-lane highway toward a stoplight, she stepped on the brakes but nothing happened. She freaked, then weaved into a turning lane, coasting to a Target parking lot with the brake pedal jammed to the floor. A Toyota technician told her she ran out of gas, but she objected that that wasn't true; there was fuel in the car. Still, he returned her Prius to her with no repairs.

Who cares if you're out of gas? Your brakes still work with no gas, sure you gotta push harder but they still work :rolleyes:

lol I love how people think hybrids just do shit on their own. You do realize Prius' have normal brakes along with the electric motor to stop right? so if she has her foot on the brakes, her car will stop. like wtf.

People make excuses for careless driving. This article proves it

I like how Toyota thinks everyone that buys their cars are morons.
uhhh..they are! I love when she said she felt all smug after buying it. obviously shes doesn't know the story behind a prius and that its carbon footprint is bigger than a land rover. idiot.

Chalk that one up to Toyota sucking.

man you guys are harsh aren't ya.

Actually, compared to what you and others have said about GM products, this isn't even in the same ballpark as far as "harsh" goes.

This is a perfect example of what I was talking about in the other thread when I told you my issue with Toyota. If this were a GM product, you'd be singing a very different tune.

i love it how Toyota blames the acceleration problems on "busy" people, i would be scared shitless if i knew my car drove off on its own

:lol: priuses don't accelerate.

Yet, we will never see this on the AMERICAN news because Toyota is oh so awesome and great...lets instead rag on Chevy for the 300 Camaros that had to be recalled for a simple wire...bad chevy!

She pushed on the brakes but they were dead.

The brakes weren't dead she was brain dead. Doing her makeup

^^^ Too many stories of the same occurence with the car pretty much rules out driver error. They are drive by wire... and I'm not surprised it happens more often. My truck is drive by wire... and if I were to have a short or bad connection on the throttle position sensor and it goes full throttle when I'm not expecting it to, that could be catastrophic.

Impossible. Too many stories? They are all looking for a cop for their poor driving. btw you know how long it takes for a prius to go from 60 to 84mph? like 35 seconds. drive by wire cars don't just WOT randomly.

Impossible. Too many stories? They are all looking for a cop for their poor driving. btw you know how long it takes for a prius to go from 60 to 84mph? like 35 seconds. drive by wire cars don't just WOT randomly.

Do you know this for a fact? I'm not concerned how quickly they accelerate, i'm concerned that they could accelerate with you not wanting it too. So if a short causes my TPS sensor to go to 5 volts which equals full throttle, you don't think that would cause an issue? Especially say you are crawling in traffic. And FYI nothing is impossible meerly improbable. And when you have an accident I'll just blame it on your poor driving.

Impossible. Too many stories? They are all looking for a cop for their poor driving. btw you know how long it takes for a prius to go from 60 to 84mph? like 35 seconds. drive by wire cars don't just WOT randomly.

Are you trying to say that Toyota is completely incapable of making a vehicle with a defect? :eyes:

Yet, we will never see this on the AMERICAN news because Toyota is oh so awesome and great...lets instead rag on Chevy for the 300 Camaros that had to be recalled for a simple wire...bad chevy!

Well Toyota has a reputation of taking care of their customers. How many times have you read about GM dealership/customer horror stories?

Well Toyota has a reputation of taking care of their customers.

HAHA...no they don't.

In the past two years they have improved greatly, but up until then, it was more like "look, you want the car or not" at the dealer, and "well there can't be anything wrong with the CAR, it must be the owner" at the service desk.

Toyota and Honda have both treated their customers like lower life forms for the past twenty years. It's high time they changed that, and it looks like they are working on it.

Are you trying to say that Toyota is completely incapable of making a vehicle with a defect? :eyes:

I'm pretty sure the prius will not accelerate on its own. and if a TPS shorts out it will set a code. seen it before, on any car

I'm pretty sure the prius will not accelerate on its own. and if a TPS shorts out it will set a code. seen it before, on any car

On any drive by wire car? Or a car that still has a throttle blade actuated by a cable attached to the pedal? Because thats two different things.

BTW, you have a better chance in stopping in a prius than any other car. It has a conventional brake system (master cylinder, etc.) and it also brakes through the electric motor, which is how it recharges its battery. There is absolutely no way the conventional system could fail, unless of course the shit is broken, but i doubt that

On any drive by wire car? Or a car that still has a throttle blade actuated by a cable attached to the pedal? Because thats two different things.

i meant drive by wire cars :P my bad lol. ive seen throttles stick, like the 6pack carb setups on older oldsmobiles. ;)

My neighbors have an 05 Prius. He has told me that, on more than one occasion (around 4), that his car didnt want to stop. He had to run the car into a ditch once because he was coming up to backed up traffic at a stop sign. Took it into the dealer and they said he was out of gas and did nothing to the car. All the other times he was able to kill the car and coast to a stop.

Toyota is a car company. ALL car companies try to bury crap. How many years did Toyota deny it used bad metal in truck frames? It takes a lot to get Toyota to admit something and you can bet your ass they wont admit that there MIGHT be something wrong with the Prius.

HAHA...no they don't.

In the past two years they have improved greatly, but up until then, it was more like "look, you want the car or not" at the dealer, and "well there can't be anything wrong with the CAR, it must be the owner" at the service desk.

Toyota and Honda have both treated their customers like lower life forms for the past twenty years. It's high time they changed that, and it looks like they are working on it.

And Gm has treated theirs like crap for 20 years as well.

^^^ No one denied that, and this thread is not about GM.

Then why did blackbird bring it up? Who cares of Toyota treated theirs like crap?

Main reason i don't trust fly-by-wire no matter who the manufacturer :nod: Cable TB and direct hydraulic brakes/clutch F T W !!!!!

Then why did blackbird bring it up? Who cares of Toyota treated theirs like crap?

:read:

I've worked for toyota for years I have never seen those problems with prius'. granted I hate the car I think its hideous i just think these stories are outrageous.

C'mon guys , this isn't a problem for the Prius , it is part of that whole Toyota "Moving Forward" thing....:jest: just not stopping....

Toyota "Moving Forward" thing....:jest: just not stopping....

HAHA:D. God that article is a perfect example of what is wrong with the Prius. What I gather from this article is the Prius accelerates more when your foot is on the brakes than on the gas, it is almost 100% Foreign made, it's Ugly, Its driven by Hypocritcal left wing Hollywood types and Smug middle aged woman, and has a carbon foot print that would make an H2 Hummer look like Al Gores favorite ride.

Then why did blackbird bring it up? Who cares of Toyota treated theirs like crap?

I do. Because you never hear about it. All we hear about is GM/Ford/Chrysler's problems. I'm making sure the other side's problems get equal coverage.

When we hear about something like this from GM, it becomes a massive 30 page plus bitch fest on here, and gets first page coverage in the local news. With Toyota and Honda, it gets dismissed here by the fanboys and buried in the home & garden section of the local paper. I'm not allowing that to happen anymore.

I do. Because you never hear about it. All we hear about is GM/Ford/Chrysler's problems. I'm making sure the other side's problems get equal coverage.

When we hear about something like this from GM, it becomes a massive 30 page plus bitch fest on here, and gets first page coverage in the local news. With Toyota and Honda, it gets dismissed here by the fanboys and buried in the home & garden section of the local paper. I'm not allowing that to happen anymore.

Right on X 10 :D

My future license plate: H8PRIUS

Well Toyota has a reputation of taking care of their customers. How many times have you read about GM dealership/customer horror stories?

Same company that had thousands of people complaining about engine sludge and the engine seizing up. Toyota had some crap line about not having to change oil as often and oil passages were designed to small. 50k to 100k later the engines were seizing up doing. They didn't do shit to fix it, pretty much told people go f-yourself. These were people that changed the oil regularly. Search google: toyota engine sludge

HAHAHAH oh that was good Blak. You stand up, Fight the Man! FIGHT THE MAN!

HAHAHAH oh that was good Blak. You stand up, Fight the Man! FIGHT THE MAN!

Yeah...it's called standing for something. It's pretty neat, you should try it sometime.

We do stand for something, it just happens that we disagree with you on some issues.

We do stand for something, it just happens that we disagree with you on some issues.

I wasn't referring to you. You weren't the one trying to make light of the fact that I have the balls to speak up.

Disagreement is fine with me, just do it with respect.

ah yes sludge motors. I've seen a few :P

My favorite tho is the 2AZ motors where the threads for the head bolts back out and the customer needs a new motor :O

every car manufacturer has some stupid shit going on, i mean... look at the OPTI on my car, what a POS. I still think this prius' shit is a little insane. Ill believe it when I see it

also 2GR motors are having cam gear issues especially if the motor is run low on oil. They are making us drop the whole motor out to change the whole cam and everything. its insane I have seen quite a few. You will hear a loud whine out of the valve train.

Prius FTMFL!!!!

Oh I stand up for plenty don't you worry your pretty little head.
I just find it funny that alot of people will blindly shout and scream that one car company sucks over another just because....no real reason, just because.

Every car company has had issues with cars, yet so many people think that the media is biased about it. Or people think there is some sort of huge cover up about it. Maybe the cover up is when something happens they fix it with no problem? Just maybe?

nahhhhh....lets go with yours...

I just find it funny that alot of people will blindly shout and scream that one car company sucks over another just because....no real reason, just because.

My reasons are clearly stated, so obviously you are not speaking of me.

Every car company has had issues with cars, yet so many people think that the media is biased about it. Or people think there is some sort of huge cover up about it. Maybe the cover up is when something happens they fix it with no problem? Just maybe?

The "cover up" is hard to refute when the proof is out there. You speak as if there's no evidence whatsoever...but there is. It's just buried far enough to make sure that only those who go looking for it will find it. In the meantime, domestic manufacturers problems are broadcast as loud as possible in every format available.

I love how all the kids nowadays think domestics are pieces of shit and just fall apart. kid at my work thought this like 92 all trac celica would beat my car. I just laughed in his face, and he calls my car a "domestic v8 POS"

I love how all the kids nowadays think domestics are pieces of shit and just fall apart. kid at my work thought this like 92 all trac celica would beat my car. I just laughed in his face, and he calls my car a "domestic v8 POS"

Well like they say; Ignorance is bliss and the Fast and the Furious generation is as ignorant as they come.

Well Toyota has a reputation of taking care of their customers. How many times have you read about GM dealership/customer horror stories?

Let me tell you how they 'take care of' my Mother. So I guess 55.00 to change her oil in a 4 banger Camary is cheap huh? My truck doesn't even cost that much.

How about when she marked up her front bumper (her fault) they wanted to charge her 500.00 to repaint it. My Father buffed it out when he came home.

How about buying tires from them. 700.00 for a set of tires for her POS toy. Then tried to make her 'feel good' by telling her they were only charging her for 3 tires and the 4th was 'free'. Went else where and it wasn't even 400.00 for a simular set.

Great customer service. :eyes:

Let me tell you how they 'take care of' my Mother. So I guess 55.00 to change her oil in a 4 banger Camary is cheap huh? My truck doesn't even cost that much.

How about when she marked up her front bumper (her fault) they wanted to charge her 500.00 to repaint it. My Father buffed it out when he came home.

How about buying tires from them. 700.00 for a set of tires for her POS toy. Then tried to make her 'feel good' by telling her they were only charging her for 3 tires and the 4th was 'free'. Went else where and it wasn't even 400.00 for a simular set.

Great customer service. :eyes:


Everything you listed there isn't even close to customer service. Bad prices yes, bad customer service, not even close.


Just for the fun of it, please find me all artlice about bad quality and recalls. Not just quotes form peoples mothers, I want actual news worthy articles.

Impossible. drive by wire cars don't just WOT randomly.

Ever had high idle, or a TPS go out? DBW is bad news.

That sucks for those people. This is an example of Toyota, not the dealerships, not taking care of their customers. I mean, you can't really blame a dealership when a woman comes in saying her car won't stop... When enough dealerships brought the issue up to them, they should take care of it, not just blow it off. I've heard of shitty GM dealerhsips, but can't remember the last time GM had an issue this large just go without correction in a recall.

Well like they say; Ignorance is bliss and the Fast and the Furious generation is as ignorant as they come.

amen.

about the prices on tires... that is the dealers decision not so much Toyotas...

Let me tell you how they 'take care of' my Mother. So I guess 55.00 to change her oil in a 4 banger Camary is cheap huh? My truck doesn't even cost that much.

How about when she marked up her front bumper (her fault) they wanted to charge her 500.00 to repaint it. My Father buffed it out when he came home.

How about buying tires from them. 700.00 for a set of tires for her POS toy. Then tried to make her 'feel good' by telling her they were only charging her for 3 tires and the 4th was 'free'. Went else where and it wasn't even 400.00 for a simular set.

Great customer service. :eyes:

The real question would be, why does your mother take her car to the dealership for oil changes and new tires? And why do you let her overpay like that?

amen.

about the prices on tires... that is the dealers decision not so much Toyotas...


And thats still not customer service.
Is it customer service that one grocery store in your neighbor hood sells a T bone for 5 bucks a pound and the other sells the same one for 4.75 a pound?

I think customer service more as how they treat you, not how expensive it is :P

You're right, I read your post wrong. My bad.