general problems of the 2004 Toyota Prius

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 mph the vehicle engine stalled. The contact lost power steering functionality but was able to safely pull off of the road. The contact stated that the "check engine" light and other unknown lights illuminated before the engine stalled after which the dashboard went black. The contact stated that she attempted to restart the vehicle but it would not. The contact had the vehicle towed to her residence and later towed to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was diagnosed and it was determined that a wiring cable connector had melted onto the battery and affected the engine, also the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,200.

This occurred to me yesterday while traveling 60 mph in 94� f heat on I-76 e just before the 676 / 76 split. I was traveling in the far left lane when the car suddenly lost power. Looking at the dash I noticed the shifter had moved itself into n (neutral), it would not move back into drive. I applied my hazard lights and began forced my way rightward across three lanes to the shoulder, speed rapidly decreasing and seemingly more sluggishly than a normal coast. I think the emergency brake was automatically being applied or I was fighting a braking system. One lane from the shoulder, a ups truck was headed for me from behind. Luckily, he was able to swerve into the shoulder and pass me there as he could not move left into other traffic. We only narrowly avoided a collision with me or the elevated barrier on the side of the road. I had only 10 mph left and no ability to redirect my vehicle. Once on the side of the expressway, I was able to google this well-known issue with the vehicle. I let the vehicle cool off, turned off the air conditioning, though didn't want to risk turning the vehicle off. I was concerned I would have to wait until nightfall to get back into traffic (still flowing around 60 mph and a very narrow shoulder) luckily during a small traffic backup up the road I was able to re-enter traffic at a modest speed. I crossed my fingers as the rest of my commute (another 2 miles or so) was 95% highway driving. Luckily the car held out for me to get home.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Prius. While the vehicle was in the garage, the engine started running. When the contact attempted to open the door, the engine stopped running. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 109,000.

Coolant control valve is failing on many Prius's which were made between 2004 to 2009.

My 24 yr. Old child was driving out of a driveway at 5 mph when the car stopped and all warning lights including brakes and engine and triangle went on. It would not restart. It would not take a battery jump. Had it towed to Toyota service and they discovered code p0335 present and verified a faulty crankshaft position sensor, replaced it, and cleaned throttle body. The car works now. Cost for diagnosis and service was $367. 07. This faulty part was a part of a recall dated in 2006 for 2001 and 2002 Priuses. We wish to advise the agency that we believe the year 2004 and perhaps other years ought to be considered for the same recall as the 2001 and 2002 Prius models with respect to a faulty crankshaft position sensor. We believe our car had a faulty sensor and that we should be a part of the earlier recall, and also obtain a full reimbursement for charges. This sudden stopping byf the vehicle poses a very dangerous situation for any driver. Our child would have been on a major highway just a few minutes later and could have been the victim of a horrendous accident. We urge your agency to be proactive in investigating this matter. Thank you.

We own a 2004 Toyota Prius. On 02/18/2010 it lost power on the road, major malfunction lights came on, among others, and had to be towed to the Toyota dealer in carlsbad, CA. After diagnosing the problem, they said the computer had failed and needed to be replaced. When the computer was replaced it started transmitting new problem codes, namely, poa94, poa78, po279, and po555, which meant that the transaxle had failed, and computer codes show that the inverter could fail also. Total repair cost: $5,594. 00 so far. If the inverter fails, it would be a total of $9,843. 00 to repair. I don't see who would pay this exorbitant amount, let alone being able to afford it. The same incident occurred on 09/15/2008. The Prius had lost power and we took it in to the dealer. They performed a diagnostics test, test drove the vehicle on the freeway for 9 miles, it ran o. K. And no computer trouble codes were found at the time. This sounds like it was a prelude to the vehicle failure were are experiencing today, and we are suspecting it has to do with the electronic system. As it stands now, the Prius is sitting at the Toyota dealer. They had removed the new computer in light of the fact that the entire vehicle is totaled. In short, the Prius was fine one day and totaled the next. They told me that this doesn't happen very often. Please let us know what we can do to resolve this problem. Thank you.

2004 Prius: after driving at 10mph on gravel road with potholes and then turning on to smooth paved road engine speed and speedometer started to vary wildly with speedometer going up to 45mph down and back up again for a 5 minute period while driving on the paved road at about 30mph. This continued but car itself did not accelerate abnormally despite change in engine speed and wild speedometer.

Was driving home at approximately 50mph when the 2004 Prius suddenly shut down and was inoperative. We pulled the car over, waited about 15 minutes, and was able to restart. The motor.

My 2004 Prius "died" with little warning while I was driving about 40 mph on a busy street. I coasted to a stop with cars flying by me. Very dangerous. Car was towed to the dealer, who explained there was a software problem and they reprogrammed the car's computer. This is an extremely dangerous problem! I'm afraid to drive this car.

Driving my 04 Prius at normal speed - all of a sudden lost all power. Made it to dealer few blocks away after sitting awhile. Dealer took 48 hours - said wrong program was in computer. Reprogramed.

I own a 2004 Toyota Prius, 15680 miles. The engine stopped when I was driving at about 60 mph and all warning lights came on. I was able to drive it on the electrical motor for about 1 mile to a gas station before the battery ran out. I had it towed to my dealer, Toyota of bowie in MD. The next day, it started right up and they said that they checked it and could find nothing wrong with it. This happened a few days before news stories of similar complaints. This is a frightening, and potentially very dangerous problem. I'm surprised and upset that the dealer or Toyota has not contacted me with a fix since they have learned about this problem.

My 2004 Prius cut out at about 25 mph and would not restart.

Problem began 5/7/05. While driving, the vehicle suddenly stopped. The indicator said to contact dealership. The vehicle was towed to the dealership. The dealer reset the computer and the vehicle was repaired.

While driving at 30 - 35 mph, the engine of my 2004 Toyota Prius cut off without warning. The "warning lamp" turned on at the time the engine quit, not before. I coasted to a stop in a nearby parking lot. When I could not restart the car, I called aaa for towing. After waiting 30 minutes, I tried to start the engine again, and it started with no problem. No warning lights were on, and I had no further problem. I had a second incident identical to the first, except this tmie I tried to restart the motor after waiting only 4 -5 minutes.

Consumer stated while traveling 40 mph all of a sudden , the lights illuminated on the dashboard and then everything shut off. The consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealer and they said it was a computer glitch regarding the release of gas to the engine. Just before a loss of power the dvd navigation system went completely out about 2 miles before everything else. The dvd navigation system failed as well.

On four separate occasions the Prius has had a complete loss of power to the gasoline engine, all the warning indicator lights have been illuminated and the car was able to travel only on battery power for a very short distance before draining the battery. Twice this has occurred after stopping at a stop sign and attempting to proceed forward. Twice it has happened while driving on the highway at 60-70 mph. When it occurred on the highway the car lost power except from the battery that allowed only 40-42 mph maximum speed. Twice the car was towed to the dealer. The first time they performed a software update the second time they reset the computer. The last two times it has happened I have been able to stop the car, disconnect the 12 volt battery which has reset the system and the car performs as expected. This would appear to be software “bug� that requires further investigation by Toyota. In any case, this type of occurrence causes an unsafe condition to occur.

Engine warning light came on while driving approximately 55-60 mph. Gas power quit and consumed all electric power and car stopped. Coasted to the side of the road. Could not get the car to go into any gear -- stuck in park. Had to have it towed to dealer.

My 2004 Prius lost power when I was traveling at about 65-70 miles per hour on 2/21/05. I had electric power for a few minutes so that I could pull off at an exit. All the warning/caution lights came on. The kern Toyota dealership in winchester va had my car towed in. They kept the car overnight. They said that they reprogrammed my computer and the car was fine. They offered no other explanation or possible future concerns. I reported this to Toyota management this morning and have a confirmation # if needed. I just saw the articles where they noted 33 other incidents like mine.

While driving the vehicle at 60 mph. The vehicle completely shut down. The consumer pressed on the accelerator pedal for speed, however the vehicle continued to lose power. The consumer had the vehicle towed. The vehicle is still at the dealership. The problem was due to a computer glitch per TSB. The battery had gone dead.

I am estimating the dates - I took my 2004 Prius to the dealer on October 12, as it was not driving right since I had done a "hard brake" the week before. The service dept was unable to find anything amiss. Then, while driving to work that Friday, my car indicated that I needed to stop the car immediately (via the red triangle etc. Lights on dashboard). I was travelling at about 45 miles per hour at the time. I coasted into a left turn lane, but was unable to complete the turn into the parking lot as the car had shut down. I was pushed into the parking lot. I contacted the dealer and the car was towed to the nearest dealer (larry miller Toyota on w. Bell road). I was told the ecu was reprogrammed and that there was a service bulletin that was not sent to owners, but directed dealers to do the fix only when there was a car with the failure. My car has exhibited the red triangle one other time, 4/15/05 I believe, it was towed again, to bell road Toyota. The answer seems to be "if there is no code on the computer that something is wrong, we cannot fix it, since we don't know where the problem is. ".