Gasoline Engine problems of the 2004 Toyota Prius

Vehicle's gas engine quit after leaving a store's parking lot. Warning lights indicated to take it to the nearest Toyota dealer immediately. Dealer indicated it was a software problem, and uploaded a fix. 2 hours of work time was lost.

Summary: internal combustion engine died while driving. Lots of indicator lights on dash, and message appeared on multifunction display. Was able to get to a safe location on battery-only power. Details: driving home from town (about 10 miles). Car was behaving normally, and had been driven approx 30 miles earlier today with no issues. Just before we got home, the following lights came on (I recorded them exactly): (1) red triangle (master warning light), (2) engine check (amber), (3) brake system warning (amber exclamation point in parentheses), (4) vsc, (5) hybrid system warning light (this was also indicated on the lcd screen). Lcd had a message on it which I did not record exactly (it was something generic like "there is a problem"). The info screen was indicating that we were running on battery only, and the car had very little "pickup", but we were on our home street, which is quite steep. The car has about 11000 miles, and did something similar when we first got it. After turning the car on and off a few times, the internal combustion engine seems to work again, and most of the indicators have now gone off. (amber "engine check" is still on). After all this happened, I got onto the internet to see if others had seen similar problems, and it looks like there may be a class problem (I note there have been a large number of these in the last few weeks - could it be temperature-related?) car was not out of gas (just refilled yesterday) - gas guage showing nearly full. Vehicle was purchased August 2004 (after the tsbs came out that implicated computer problems), so I'm suspecting this may be a different issue than was dealt with there. VIN is jtdkb20u540111781. Will notify Toyota tomorrow and request instructions as to how to proceed.

5/6/05 my 2004 Prius with 20,400 miles without warning loss all power and shut down while driving hazard light came on warning to take to Toyota dealer. The vehicle would not start. The battery meter level was completely dead. The vehicle had to be towed to maita Toyota 2500 auburn blvd, sacramento, CA 95821, 916 481-5353 for repair. The work order stated the cause was the ecu which was reprogramed which cleared stored codes. Code pulled p3191. Is this a new finding in the Prius?.

1. I was driving on the long island expressway. Traffic became congested so the pace was stop and go. I started to accelerate (was going about ~35 mph) when my 2004 Prius lost power. I was able to pull over. All these lights came on indicating there was a problem. I was able to pull over and get off the road. , I called the 800 no. For roadside assist. But the wait was over an hour. After ~20 minutes I started the car to try to boost the power the electric battery. I drove it in a parking lot and kept braking. The car seemed fine so I cancelled roadside assist. I then drove it another 250 miles home without a problem. After hearing the news I thought the problem I had was the same. I wasn't sure what further steps to take. I did have my Toyota dealer check it out but someone else dropped the car off for me so I'm not sure they totally understood the actual problem. They did a computer adjustment. No problems since this one and only incident.

Without warning, the warning light and alarm come on. The gas engine dies and does not engage at all. The electric motor is the only thing that keeps the car mobile. Once the power is turned off then back on, both the gas and electric motors move the car as normal, but the warning persists. This has happened twice. I've been told that two different computer were the cause. The first incident happened at about 5,000 miles, and this latest happened just over 10,000.

In June 2004, the 2004 toyata Prius we had purchased in mid-may malfunctioned as I was accelerating onto a freeway on-ramp in daly city, California. A loud beep sounded, and all the dashboard lights lit up at once, including the exclamation point. The gas engine did not engage as it usually did at higher speeds, leading to a rapid depletion of the battery, which forced me to pull over to the side of the freeway. I turned off the car, waited 5 minutes, and then pressed the power button. The lights on the dash lit up again but the car did not start. I called for a tow, which took about 70 minutes. In the meantime, I tried the power button at 15 minute intervals. At 45 minutes, the car started normally. However, by then the towing company was on its way and the car was towed to the service center of the city Toyota dealership in daly city, which happened to be where we purchased the car. The car was left for a few days. When I retrieved it, they were unable to explain why the problem occurred. We have been driving the car since without incident.