general problems of the 2001 Toyota Prius

The car accelerated without warning at high speed on it's own in a parking lot and rammed itself into the wall deploying airbags. My mother was driving and was sent to the e. R. She was slowly backing up when the car accelerated first in reverse hitting a wall and then switched in drive on it's own with high acceleration running into the opposite wall which deployed the bags. After reading online about these vehicles, the acceleration surging is a common problem.

My car is experiencing what is known onlline as "the big hand syndrom". While driving, the accelerator pedal changes resistance and it feels like someone grabs the car and it dramatically slows. You then have to press harder on the accelerator pedal to maintain speed. Well one day, the car stopped working, no matter how hard I pressed on the pedal it would no accelerate. I was on the highway. I took my car in to the local authorized Toyota dealer and was told that the accelerator pedal was bad and needed to be replaced. We replaced the pedal and experienced the same issues, and replaced the accelerator pedal again. I'm still experiencing the same issuses and the Toyota dealer said theres nothing they can do except keep replacing the pedal cause thats the code it is throwing up. This is a major safety issue for my vehicle as I can and do lose acceleration at any given time. It doesnt seem to matter how fast im going or the driving conditions. It is completely random, and cannot be replicated on comand. The date listed is the first instance, and it has happened too many times to count or make record.

Driving my 2001 Prius down rt 95 in CT. Suddenly lost power. I was able to drive - electric drive only, no gas power. I made to the exit in wesport and found a Toyota dealership open. The diagnosis, via codes, was failed accelerator pedal. Resetting the computer and restarting the car a few times allowed it to work enough for me to get home. I have still not repaired the accelerator. Lately this problem happens nearly every time I start the car. . . The engine stalls immediately or loses power down the road. Restarting 2 or 3 times "fixes" the problem most of the time. My research has shown that this problem is common, and called "big hand syndrome" among 1st generation Prius owners, and accelerator pedal repair is the common fix. I believe the 2001-2003 Prius should be included in the Toyota accelerator pedal recall.

I saw that the japanese government is making Toyota look into the following complaint in newer model Priuses. "the vehicle surged forward or temporarily lost braking after driving over a pothole or other uneven surface. This is a reoccuring problem. " my 2001 Prius has this problem all the time. In addition the car had the hybrid batteries catch on fire , the catalytic converter fail, the ecu for the brakes fail, the power steering fail, the brake pump leak, the computer fail (which caused the car to improperly shift gears). These issues were all fixed for free by Toyota except the ecu for the brakes and the brake pump which were fixed, but at my expense. No injuries occured.

While driving along on interstate, got warning triangle and low main battery information. Immediately, car began to speed-up on its own. I applied very hard braking to try and slow down while trying to move to the right lane with traffic on my right. Car did not slow down but I managed to avoid traffic and get onto the right lane, where there was an exit from the interstate. I made the exit and was able to get control of the acceleration. I then drove the rough running car to the my dealer off that exit. They replaced the main battery, and everything is now fine. I feel that I was very lucky that nobody got hurt!.

2001 Toyota Prius: accelerator sensor failure for several weeks leading up to the failure, there was a slight (but definite) sensation of deceleration when trying to maintain steady speed. At the time of failure, the vehicle hesitated/stalled and the "master warning light" came on. Local dealer (355 Toyota, rockville, MD) replaced the part at a cost of $700. 00. Should a part this expensive (and so critical to vehicle function) be failing at 4 years?.

Vehicle stalled/died, and lost power while driving 5 mph. Throttle body module failed. There was a NHTSA recall but this involved a chemical in the pruis car battery. L. Yes. Car has broke down several times since. The stalling is still a problem.

Going at highway speed, car suddenly lost power, slowed down to a max. Speed of 37 mph, running mostly on electrical power. Master warning light (triangle with excalmation point) lit up. Gas engine would periodically start up, but was not responding to accellerator pedal. After pulling over and shutting down vehicle, I was able to restart and continue normally.

2001 Toyota Prius-sudden drop in speed-could not exceed 17 mph. Dangerous in traffic Toyota replaced computer-old parts not available incident date is approximate-took 2 1/2 months to repair.

Problems started in November 2003. Had oil changed and an hour later all the warning lights came on in the vehicle. Immediately returned to the dealership where it took 2 weeks to replace the fuel pump (37,000 miles). Since then the car has been back to the dealership an additional 9 times to the current date (may 2005) for several different things. The computer has been replaced two times. The engine has been replaced. The injectors cleaned, then a few months later had to be completely replaced. The throttle body has been replaced. I have been driving the car when it would not acelerate and had to pull over in traffic. The first time the dealership said there were no warning lights when the car got to the dealership and they could not recreate the codes or situation so they could not do anything. The second time (April 2005) all four injectors were replaced as well as the mass air flow system. The car has been in the service department at our Toyota dealership for a total of 17 times since the car arrived at approximately 180 days!!! 10 of those 17 times has been because the warning lights have come on. Have entered into arbitration and we are awaiting an answer on the decision.

I own a 2001 Toyota Prius. Several times in the last few months I have experienced a loss of power combined with my dash warning lights. I had one similar incident last year. The dealership claims their diagnostics find no problem (no codes = no problem). Therefore nothing is resolved and the car remains prone to loss of power, a dangerous condition when traveling on any freeway. By looking at the chat boards (yahoo in particular) it's evedint ai am not an isolated case. I believe Toyota has an obligation to address and correct this issue. Thank you for your time. Richard torok.

The consumer states that the vehicle had gone out of control. The consumer was coasting into the driveway, when she placed her foot on the brake, the vehicle surged into the garage and damaged items. The consumer no longer wants the vehicle because she feels unsafe. The consumer said that Toyota didn't want to except responsibilty, even though the service manager did report that the gas engine surge could occur in order to charge the battery.