general problems of the 2004 Toyota Prius

I need your help to get Toyota to fix 2 items: -abs accumulator: I understand Toyota at one time had a recall on the ‘abs accumulator’, that may have expired. At that time, I did not have any issue, nor was I aware of the recall. Now the ‘abs accumulator’ has gone out and is really hurting the braking. I had to get new brakes & they get locked because of the abs malfunction. It is an expensive item – more than the cost of the car. I intend to keep the car for a long time, if Toyota can help me get the abs accumulator fixed? -mfd: the multi-functional display (mfd) in the middle of the dashboard, has gone blank. It used to just partially blank out before, but now the whole screen is blank all the time, making it very hazardous to drive. Obviously, there is nothing I have done & it is a manufacturing defect, because it should last the life of the car. Please have Toyota fix the 2 problems (abs & mfd). All requests to Toyota have gone unfulfilled. Your help is needed & will be greatly appreciated.

All the instrument cluster lights continue to go out on my 04 Prius. I don't know how much fuel I have this could be a safety issue. I don't know how fast I'm going this could definitely be a safety issue. And zero warning lights come on this is definitely a safety issue. By looking on the internet I can tell thousands of Priuses have this exact same issue with the instrument panel cluster going out. This should definitely be a recall.

I was driving my 2004 Toyota Prius on the highway there were 5 passengers in the car including me. Suddenly there was a loud alarm in the car. It was a loud beep. The breaks completely failed. When I stepped on the breaks they did not react. I was going 65 miles an hour on the highway and thankfully we were not going down hill. I used the engine brake and pressed really hard on the breaks to bring the car to a stop on an off-ramp. Since I weight 300 pounds I could put all my weight into the brakes and finally brought it to a stop. If my wife was driving we would have crashed. The whole episode took like 3 minutes. It was agonizing because I thought we were going to crash against other cars because I had no way of informing them that I had no brakes. The idea of going in the ramp was trying to minimize the damage to other people. The alarm continues when I turned on the car. I took the the car to the dealership and they said that the actuator was the culprit. They told me it was a matter of time. I was sitting on a faulty part. They said it was on a warranty and not on a recall so they could have only fixed it if it failed and I was too late for the fix. The warranty expired on December 31, 2017. In other words, my 147,700 miles Toyota is essentially totaled. The fix cost more than the value of the car. They told me to disable the abs and I would be ok. A mavis brake mechanic tells me not risk it. I always took my Toyota to service at Toyota dealerships. They never mentioned the recall in spite of the fact that the brake light was on. When they performed the oil change the light would turn off for several weeks and then turn on. I could have killed myself in the car. I feel lucky that nothing happened. I am looking for a mechanic to fix the problem but it is hard to find independent hybrid mechanics. Toyota wants to charge $2800.

Water pump and altanator stopped working twice on I'-5 towed to Toyota tacoma where they flushed fuel billed $500 car broke down on way home towed back to Toyota told charge would be 2500 to fix . . Flatbed dedicated car to bron's auto hoses and coolant system was melted payed $1500 to replace in tire coolant system and still owe 600 to synchrony car care card now returning home last week turning around to back up there was a loud crunch steering broke steering wheel crunches when turned wheels do not turn at all moving down the road called Toyota they said they fixed both on recall to fix it myself it wasnt there problem parts wore out kick rocks the parts didnt wear out they broke 5 minutes sooner id have been head on in traffic on hwy 405 instead of backing up on the city street. Unable to steer into our driveway I'm already stuck making payments on coolant system repairs that were recall.

My Prius suddenly had a 70 to80% loss of brake power. My parking brake light came on along with the abs, vcs, the red triangle and a load buzzer. If this had happened at highway speed I could have rear-ended or killed someone. After turning my car off and letting it sit the lights stayed off. This concerns me because it could lead to a false sense there's nothing wrong. I took my car to the dealer and they seemed to know right away it was the abs brake actuator code c1256. I did some digging and it seems this is a very common problem and yet it's not a recall issue. I want everybody to know this is a safety issue. My Prius was bought new by my senior parents, they kept it garaged and only had 45000. Miles on it when I bought it from there estate. At the time the malfunction ac cured it still only has 72456. Miles on it. For a part to malfunction with such little miles to me indicates a very serious defect. In motion going straight driving at 25 mph residential street.

Brakers light and abs light still on after release the brakers pedant .

Drive mode shifter sticks in drive or reverse. If the vehicle is stopped, with the brake depressed, and you then press the park button to put the vehicle in park, the vehicle remains in drive or reverse and the vehicle will move as soon as the brake pedal is lifted, even though the driver believes s/he has engaged the park mode. Complaint submitted by the original owner of this regularly-maintained vehicle.

Both headlights spontaneously went out at the same time while driving. This has been an intermittent problem since that date, despite changing the bulbs. Sometimes the lights can be relit by turning the headlight switch off and back on. Sometimes this does not work. Particularly if the bright lights are on, the off-on switching does not work and the headlights remain off.

Vehicle slips into neutral and/or will not revert back to drive or reverse. The problem is most prevalent when weather gets extremely hot (99 degrees +). The only way I was able to get moving was to physically hold my shifter in drive position; the second I let it go, the vehicle automatically reverted back to neutral. I had my vehicle over to a local Toyota dealership about this issue. The technician at that time did acknowledge this was strange and witnessed the problem on site. After diagnosing the vehicle, he could not find anything wrong; I was told to leave the car with the dealership for a few days to try to replicate the problem; no other means of transportation was offered. I felt it would have been an unfair expense to rent a car for an undetermined amount of time while Toyota diagnosed my vehicle for several days; that said, I did not return to the same dealership for this specific matter. Given that this seems to occur only in extreme hot weather, you would have to replicate the same environmental conditions to diagnose it. Moreover, given the spontaneity of this issue it could take a very long time to diagnose it. This is truly a safety concern especially when the vehicle is in motion. I have attached two youtube video links that demonstrate this problem other owners are exhibiting with this same issue that demonstrate that I'm not just an isolated consumer with this issue. . Read more...

Computer shut down in the Toyota Prius causing car to stop in a matter of minutes on two occations.

I would like to report a stalling I experienced while driving our Toyota Prius (2004) the car stalled a little after I merged onto highway 85 in cupertino. All the warning lights on the dashboard came on and the car would no longer accelerate as I tried to drive up to 65 mph. It appeared that the gas engine quit and it was running on electric power. I was able to coast on till the next exit. After getting off the freeway, I pulled into the nearest parking lot where I turned to car off. I was able to restart it and it drove fine but all the warning lights remained on. So I immediately drove it to the dealership in sunnyvale where we bought the car where it was fixed. I am not sure that Toyota dealers are keeping accurate records of the problem. I read an article in the Mercury news today's edition in which adam simms, the operating partner at Toyota of sunnyvale has claimed that "none of the people who have bought a Prius at his dealership have had problems with stalling". I know this is not true because I have experienced the problem and had it fixed at his dealership. I am not sure of the exact date the incident occured. I believe it was sometime during the the second week of Nov.