general problems of the 2005 Toyota Prius - part 2

I have 2005 Toyota Prius that was bought on Dec 2004. While driving to my work on June 30th 2009, my Prius car speed reduced slowly from 45mph and did not go faster than 30 mph on rte 28 north from manassas,va to centerville va. Since I cannot drive more than 20 miles per hour, I parked the car on local roads and asked aaa to tow my vehicle to ourisman Toyota dealer, chantilly. Dealer could not duplicate the problem and gave car back. I believe, this is due to computer system failure. But dealer could not identify. It happened only one time from Dec 2004 so for. But I am scared of driving the car to long travel and using only for local drive.

The problem is engine surging when I am braking. The regenerative brakes seem to send power to the motor that the computer does not handle properly and the engine surges, making it difficult for me to slow the car down to make turns or to stop. The car feels out of control. This problem seems to be random. I have contacted the Toyota dealer several times about the problem over the years since I purchased the car in January of 2005. They said they had received no other complaints of a similar problem. It happens more frequently in the summer than in the winter. I talked to the service manager at my Toyota dealer last month and he again said that there were no other complaints of a similar problem and that it might be the fault of the ethanol in the gasoline. I think it is a problem of the electronics and that the shield protecting the electronics is not capable of protecting against electro-magnetic problems in the area or in my car.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. While driving 2 mph backing out of her drive way, the vehicle accelerated and it crashed into a telephone pole. One passenger injured her wrist and bump her head. A police report was filed. The vehicle was severely damaged. The vehicle was repaired by a local dealer. The failure mileage was 65,000. The current mileage was 88,000.

About 1-2 times per month, I've noticed what feels like a very small momentary acceleration while braking, if I hit a bump/pothole at the same time. I've only noticed the issue within the last year, since transferring and using a different route to get to/from work.

I eased to a stop in a parking spot in a parking lot. When I eased off the brake my Prius surged forward, jumped the curb, grazed a light post & stopped against a bush. The gas pedal did not catch on the floor mat.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge forward whenever the vehicle was idle. The failure would occur on a daily basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but received no repairs. The failure mileage was 12,000 and the current mileage was 70,000.

2005 Prius - intermittent acceleration problem. On five occasions, but none in the last year, when wanting to slow down by taking foot off accelerator to step on brake, the car accelerated briefly, for less than half a second. But the brake worked normally and there was no problem stopping. Date given is approximate for last time it happened.

I have been driving my 2005 Prius for 5 years and have experienced the following nearly 20 times, when braking, if a pothole or bump in the road is hit, the car seemingly jerks forward/accelerates for a split second. And the vsc light on the dash will go on for a short time.

When I was pulling slowly into my regular parking space at work, my 2005 Prius suddenly surged forward and smashed into a cement wall that was about 4 - 6 feet in front of me. There were cars parked on each side of me; I didn't hit either of them. I went straight into the wall at the font of the parking space. No water or ice or bad conditions were present. The surge was much faster than would have occurred had I mistakenly hit the accelerator rather than the brake. Over $3300 worth of damage was done to the front of my car. My ankle bone was chipped, my wrist was sore, I had minor whiplash. I was alone in the car. I feel strongly that this was not a result of driver error on my part, nor do I think it is a result of the floor mat catching the accelerator. What I experienced matches much more closely with descriptions of a fluke computer error causing the car to surge forward when I touched the brakes. It was a strong, fast and sudden surge; much more powerful than what I experience when I use the accelerator. I reported the incident to Toyota (reference #200710181201). They sent someone out from the chicago regional office to inspect the car in minneapolis. They claimed everything was working fine and refused to do more. After I explained the situation and my fear about driving my car, the local walser Toyota dealer did another very thorough check and reset all of the electronic components. It has worked fine since. Prior to this 2007 incident there were a couple of other times when the car seemed to surge rather than brake at stop signs. None caused crashes. And once, also prior to 2007, the antilock brakes did not deploy when they should have. I narrowly avoided a crash that time.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. Immediately after the vehicle was turned on it lunged forward while his foot was on the brake pedal. When he applied pressure to the brakes again it stopped accelerating and began to perform normally. The failure has occurred four additional times. The dealer was contacted and they stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed and no repairs were made to the vehicle. The failure mileage was 28000 and the current mileage was 34000.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 70 mph with the over drive system activated, the vehicle accelerated without warning when brakes were engaged. Immediately, the overdrive control switch was deactivated and the vehicle slowed down. The contact was able to resume normal operation. The failure recurred and has not been repaired. The contact had concerns of the safety risk involved. The failure and current mileages were 33,000. Updated 12/18/09 the consumer stated the issue was not caused by floor mats, because she installed rubber mats soon after purchasing the vehicle. Updated 12/22/09.

My 2005 Toyota Prius accelerated even when the accelerator pedal wasn't depressed. The brakes were burned off the car in an attempt to bring the vehicle to a stop. The car crashed into the side of a gas station. There were no injuries to people, but the car was destroyed by the impact and a fire. The side of the gas station was damaged.

Unexpected acceleration occurred twice in my Toyota Prius 2005 car. Both times I was in the driveway going slowly into the garage and stopped the vehicle by slamming on the brakes. No damage occurred. This was when it was fairly new and I did not report it thinking I had done something wrong. Now that all the news has come out about these problems I realize it wasn't me.

: the contact stated the vehicle stalled on two separate occasions. The first time it occurred was on April 7th while driving at a steady speed of 25mph. The second time it occurred was on April 21st while driving at a steady speed of 5-15 mph. All the warning lights illuminated and the vehicle was pulled over. Once pulled over, the vehicle would not go back into the drive position. Afterwards, it stalled and would not restart. The stalling occurred 3-5 minutes after it was pulled over. The vehicle was towed to the dealership both times. The first time the dealer replaced the entire transmission. The second time the dealer replaced the inverter. On April 23rd while driving the dash board lights became inoperable including the speedometer, and the gear indicator. The contact alerted the dealership by phone who explained the problem was likely the circuit board and it was okay to continue driving the vehicle. Afterwards, the vehicle began to blow out hot and cold air and the dealership was alerted again which explained it was okay to continue driving. Shortly after it began to rain, the wipers were turned on, and the dash lights became inoperable once again. The vehicle is scheduled for inspection on Monday may 8th.

I have reviewed my service records and it is quite clear that I have had problems with the "electrical" system in my car since April 2006 @ 3,370 miles. This was also the same time it began to accelerate from a stopped position for the first time, when I noticed that the braking system began to "feel" different, when the car began "slipping" on perfectly dry roads, and when my steering wheel would lock up. I find it difficult to believe that the failure of my brakes and my intermittent acceleration issues are not somehow related to the cars "computer" system and not mechanical issues. I have filed complaints with Toyota for these issues (cases # 200807100210, 200811030088). I experienced my first braking issue on 27-Jun-2008 (25,133 miles). While I was able to bring the car to a stop eventually, the slowing of my car was a very gradual process requiring heavy pressure on the brake with minimal braking response. I went to the Toyota dealership. The dtc code at the time was c1247 with "code 179" stored, there was "no brake assist. " the dealership reset the memory and reinitialized the linear solenoid valve and calibration. The brakes were reported to have returned to "normal. " on 09-Jul-2008 (25,551 miles), I returned to the dealership because my brakes failed again. This time my brake failure resulted in a car accident (the person I hit stated at the time of the accident he had whiplash but he never contacted me afterwards). Toyota replaced the skid control ecu and rechecked operation reassuring me once again that the brakes had returned to "normal. " on 03-Nov-2008 (29,575 miles) as I was driving over 65 on a major highway my brakes again failed (dtc c1247, code 179). Toyota case #08300402. At this point the repair shop replaced the brake stroke sensor. I am concerned because my car had an acceleration issue on 13-Feb-2010 and I find it to be "slipping" again on dry roads. Similar problems to those I had before my brakes failed. Please help. Updated ivoq 04/02/10 updated 04/08/10.

I have a 2005 Toyota Prius. When it was 8 months old, probably already with more than 10,000 miles on it, it suddenly stopped on the highway when it was running. It was fixed by a Toyota dealership in wellesley, MA and they said the problem was with the codes for the electronic throttle (something I knew nothing about at the time). They said however that they needed to get codes from California. I don't know if they knew at that time about an existing broader problem but didn't want to tell me, since I was a new Toyota Prius owner at the time. I found it puzzling that they could not fix the problem locally. Lately, I've been hearing about the recall of various Toyota cars so I wanted to let you know about my Prius just in case: 1) sometimes, when the car is put in park, the engine suddenly revs up for no reason (I'm not pressing on the gas pedal) 2) very occasionally, I drive over a pothole and as the car is re-contacting the ground, the engine again seems to rev up. This has not resulted in an actual serious acceleration yet I don't believe that there is any problem with the floor mats or pedals. The floor mats fit nicely around the pedals. Aside from the above, my Toyota, which I drive a lot (it has more than 100,000 miles already) has done rather well, with minimal serious problems. I've been good about getting it serviced regularly. Please feel free to contact me with questions.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that on a daily basis, she noticed an acceleration problem. The vehicle would pull back and suddenly lunge forward with no warning. The vehicle was never uncontrollable but she was concerned about it. She took the vehicle to the dealership and was told that they could not diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The current mileage was approximately 50,000. The failure mileage was approximately 7,500.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. While driving the driver side floor mat shifted under the accelerator pedal. Consequently she could not decelerate. The vehicle was taken to the dealership for inspection. She was advised that the floor mat hooks needed to be repositioned. The current and failure mileages were 37000.

I noticed very soon after I bought my Toyota Prius there was a little serge while in park as well as while in drive. The surge would actually make the car jump forward a little but I just wrote it off as a strong little car and didn't consider that it could be dangerous. I still own the car but don't drive it anymore. Now I am very worried for the people who do drive the car. I have not been notified about any recalls. Just a notice of two that they might want to change to floor mat and they would let me know, but that day never came. My mats were not hitting my pedal when I felt the car lunge while in park!.

I own a 2005 Toyota Prius. When applying the brakes on a surface with a pot hole or deep indentation, the car speeds up and gives the feeling that it is not going to stop in time. I try to leave a greater stopping distance but then never know when this type of surface will suddenly appear and raise the possibility of a crash. This is not a one-time occurrence. Other than, "it's not on the recall list" Toyota never has any comment on this concern.

I have a 2005 Prius. Three times, the car has surged for a few seconds while stepping on the brake. The first time it happened I was slowing to make a right turn. I reported it to the dealer on 5-25-05. I was told that sometimes that's the way the brakes operate. Another puzzling occurrence which I reported to the dealer on 4-25-06, was that sometimes when I step on the gas, nothing happens, and then it surges forward.

While driving at approximately 68 mph the vehicle began to loose speed. The consumer was able to pull the vehicle off to the side of the road and park. No warning light illuminated indicating there was a problem. The consumer had been driving for about an hour at 68 mph when the vehicle began to lose power. After the vehicle sat for about 1 1/2 minutes the vehicle operated as if nothing had happened. The consumer heard one beep, then the vehicle lost all power. The consumer pressed the accelerator but it did not respond. The service dealer could not find a problem.

Consumer was driving about 45 minutes / 65 mph when vehicle lost power/stalled. All warning lights were on. Consumer was able to restart vehicle after it stalled by letting it sit for a while. Vehicle had a history of accelerating and stalling.

2005 Toyota Prius--experiences braking and handling failures when braking on uneven or wet surfaces. When we are braking and hit a pothole, gravel, railroad tracks or wet surfaces, the car feels as if we are losing control of it, and braking seems to temporarily stop. The "skid danger" light comes on, even at very low speeds. This happens nearly every time we brake under these conditions. Also, at idle (ie. Stoplights), the car will frequently lurch forward slightly, even with the brake pedal fully depressed, especially when engine transfers from electric to gas. We were told early in our ownership that this is normal "dieseling". These have been on-going problems, since we purchased the car in 2005 (new), that we thought we were "imagining" until hearing all of the reports of similar problems. Toyota claims that the Prius braking issues only affect the 2010 Prius, but we see it firsthand on an on-going basis.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Prius. Several months ago she received a letter from the manufacturer to take the floor mats out of her vehicle and what to do if the vehicle accelerates. The contact has experienced the vehicle accelerating multiple times. The contact then took the vehicle to the dealer who informed her that the vehicle had to be repaired at her own expense. She then contacted the manufacturer and they stated that since they did not recall her vehicle there was nothing they could do. The received a recall notice from the manufacturer and they refuse to make the free recall repair. Her state attorney general was notified and they informed her that they were going to mail her a complaint form. The failure mileage was 5. The current mileage was 31000. Updated 04/05/10 updated 05/17/10.