123 problems related to electrical system have been reported for the 2006 Toyota Prius. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2006 Toyota Prius based on all problems reported for the 2006 Prius.
The light up display for the odometer, fuel gauge, and speedometer does not always light up. When it is not lit, the cruise control and any warning and informative alarms/lights also do not work. This is a well-known issue among owners of these cars, related to the capacitors on the circuit board for the display being defective, and there is extensive documentation of it online. It may also have had a technical service bulletin released for the issue, but I'm not entirely sure. The light goes out intermittently and is not always consistently out. I did mention it to the service personnel when I took it in to get recalls repaired recently, and they didn't seem surprised or unaware of the issue. I did not ask them to diagnose or fix it, as I know I can get it done for a better deal elsewhere.
The following describes a near total failure of the brake system that accompanies and is triggered by routine aging of the battery. I believe this applies to multiple model years and editions of the Prius, based on reports by other owners on owners' discussion groups. I believe this should have the highest severity level. Here is what happens: an alarm is sounded, several warning lights abs, vcs appear, and soon after that, the front brakes stop working. The rear brakes then prove ineffective and lock up. The happens with high frequency under any of the following conditions: (a) as the battery approaches 3yrs age, (b) it is excessively cold outside. (c) there is a higher than typical load on the 12v system from any of a variety of reasons. After installing a fresh new 12v battery, the above happens with much less frequency. There no warning on the dashboard to indicate that the condition of the 12v battery is not safe for operation of the vehicle. It seems clear that the route cause is that the brake control unit is configured within inadequate tolerance for the normal aging of the 12v battery, compounded by the absence of warning on the dash. This probably traces back to a poorly chosen ldo voltage regulator in the design of the brake control unit. Recommendation: review the electrical designs for the brake control unit, all model years, replace as needed and update the dash board computer to provide warning when the battery condition is not sufficient for safe operation of the vehicle. I further recommend that this be done with all due haste, as the condition is quite dangerous. Qualifications: phd chemical physics and electrical engineer.
One afternoon, in the summer of 23, I entered my Toyota Prius to run some errands. Once I proceeded to power on the car, none of the dashboard lights illuminated. This included the gas gauge, speedometer & transmission indicator. Fortunately, I was only driving a few blocks down the road from my residence as I live in a small rural town with little congestion, little traffic and mostly two-lane roads. I can't imagine this occurring in a much larger metropolitan city. When I arrived at my destination, I discovered that my Prius wouldn't shut off. This dashboard malfunction was preventing the Toyota from powering off. I quickly completed my errands with my vehicle running during this entire ordeal. Finally, when I returned home, I frantically researched on youtube regarding this issue and discovered many others who also were having these no-illuminating-dashboard problems. Some youtubers offered workarounds but the solutions will be temporary as the problem will eventually worsen until the Prius owners have no working dashboard lights. From the way I understand it, this problem is nothing more than a small computer board that's behind the speedometer and this computer board has a small diode that tends to burn out on all kinds of Toyota Priuses when it reaches around 150,000 miles.
I was driving down the main road at night time in my 2006 Prius and the headlights both went out and all most caused a crash. I pulled over turned my car off then back on and the headlights came back on so I started driving home. After driving a couple blocks I was pulled over by the police because my drivers side headlight was off. Luckily he let me go with a warning, but I work at night and am losing money daily because of this problem. I sent Toyota a email and no answer. There has been many electrical problems with this car and the speedometer still says I am deiving 34 to 35 mph while I am actually only going 30mph. I think that Toyota should fully fix the problems in thos car. Its amazing there can be so much wrong with a vehicle and they not have to replace the vehicle with a vehicle that works or fix all the problems and give me a loaner vehicle. I will upload a picture of what the Toyota dealership nearest to me wanted just to replace 1 bulb ans the balast wires going to the light for one loght they want $211. 34 and that is just for the bulb and wire. For there time they said each bulb and wire would be around $500 worth of repair time to pay for them to put the new light and wire in so for one lightbulb with rhe wire would be about $800-$1000 for the dealership to replace the parts, so basically $2000 to replace both light bulbs and the wires and pay the Toyota company to put them in. If you look at the estimate it is for 1 bulb and 1wire and that would be the price if I put them in and if I only wanted the parts. So $211. 34 then I would have to double it because I would need 2 bulbs and 2 wires. Then I would have to add another $1000. That is $500 for labor for them to put the bulbs in per each bulb and wire and they said its not guaranteed it will fix the problem. So that is $422. 68 for parts and they said somewere around $500 for them to install each bulb and wire and after it might not even fix the problem. So that is $2422. 68 to maybe fix the problem.
Randomly the instrument panel (dashboard) does not turn on with the vehicle.
Hi, after being parked for about 1. 5 hrs my back seat on the drivers side caught on fire. I understand this is where a battery is and that newer cars of this brand have had recalls for this problem.
The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the vehicle intermittently failed to shut-off as needed with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer on three separate occasions and the mechanic was able to either disconnect the battery or shut-off the vehicle as designed. The manufacturer had been notified of the failure and informed him that the vehicle was out of warranty and that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The contact filed a case with the manufacturer. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000.
Discovered through failures repeated to dealers that certain items (brakes, dashboard, et. Al. ) were recalled by toyote. Never received recall notices. Contacted Toyota who demanded the vehicle be taken to dealer and now refuses to do anything. Have complete documentation to attach to this communication. Essentially: dashboard failed, brakes failed when auto in operation. Likely there are unknown additional recalls, etc. Of which we were not noticed.
Known problem with combination meter - found it searching online once I realized this was the problem. I bought my car used and since it is no longer covered by Toyota, it didn't come up in search. Having issues with there being no display on the dash and vehicle not shutting off for the entire time I have had the car. It only happens intermittently. This is a safety issue for sure! can't see speed, gas, gears. . . Anything about car whether car stationary or moving.
According to the Toyota dealership where I have my car maintained, my 2006 Prius is in need of a new motherboard. Apparently there was a recall on this prior to so many miles on the vehicle but I have missed this deadline as my car did not show these symptoms prior to the cutoff. . My Prius when turned on does not turn on the dash board features so I have no idea how fast I am driving. Once I reach my destination I am unable to turn my car off. The power button does not respond, usually for several hours. In these cases I usually leave my car on in the parking lot where I am and return over the next several hours to check on it. It tends to turn off after taking the car for a long drive several hours later. This occurs about twice a month now.
I was driving on a highway 95 south, almost to delaware, at night in the rain, after 4 hours on the road, everything stopped working. I couldn't accelerate, I had no brakes, and eventually even my lights went out. The entire electrical system was out. I was in heavy traffic, and don't even know how I got off the highway, and to a gas station. The tow truck driver couldn't even jump the battery enough to get the car in neutral, and had a difficult time getting it up on the flatbed to tow it home. I couldn't even lock the doors. I had a new key made at the dealership on 10/17/19 and I was using that key for hours driving to CT and a couple of days later I was half way home when everything in the car stopped working. I was towed to my home in MD because I needed to be able to unpack my car and computer before taking it to the dealership. When the second tow came the next day, I handed him the key by the front door, which was my old key, and he was able to get the car in neutral right away, and at the dealership the car worked just fine. The only difference was the new key. The technician found that "the immobilizer ecu has an intermittent open circuit failure, causing the key to be seen as unauthorized and stall the engine. " from jim coleman Toyota. Apparently there is a part of the computer system that shuts off all systems if it detects an "unauthorized" key--I. E. If it believes the car is being stolen. It seems to me that this is a very dangerous program in this car. I had been using that new key for several days, and had no problem, but for it to decide in the middle of the highway after hours on the road that the key was a fake, I could have been killed or I could have killed someone else. I would much prefer that my car be stollen than that someone might get killed but shutting off everything while it was on the road.
Toyota refuses to replace the combination meter in my vehicle although it only has 110k miles on it. They have acknowledged my vehicle was included with the batch of models that have this known issue under 2004-2009 Toyota Prius combination meter warranty extension ztv, but will not cover. This is not right for a consumer to be on the hook for Toyota's quality issue. This is a significant safety issue and should be under a formal recall.
My hv battery has a problem. The red triangle showed when the car millage was only 118000m. I checked with servco and replaced one cell of the hv battery. However, the red triangle showed again, and code reader found another damaged cell. That would be a possibility that the whole hv battery was damaged.
I was driving normally and suddenly a continuos beep was there,I tried to stop a no brakes. I was able to steer my car to a safe place. Then used a toll service and took it to my Toyota dealer. In a short time they told me they told me the computerized brake system was defective and the job will cost me $2250. 00 I can not afford. I tolled the car back to my house . Later I found that there had been a recall from Toyota. I was never notified although I took my car there for regular checkups. Note: my car was in motion and previous to incident I had descended a steep hill. I consider myself lucky on that date,three minutes earlier I would have been in great distress trying to stop my Toyota Prius.
Sometimes as I drive the vehicle, after a while, either one of the headlights turns off randomly. I don't always notice when it happens, other than when pulling up behind another vehicle at a stop light and notice that there is only 1 headlight reflection coming from my vehicle. They both work normally if I turn them off and on again.
Combination meter is going out on the car. This controls the dashboard lights, meaning that I cannot see how fast I am going or if there are any gauges or sensors lit up alerting me to a problem with the vehicle. Toyota had an extended warranty on this but it has now expired and they want $1000 to fix it.
Combination meter stopped working in cold weather. Know problem for Toyota and a very dangerous one. They did one repair and warranty extension but vehicles now hitting higher miliage are having issues and it is documented by Toyota in a warranty bullentin no. Pol12-05 from Toyota.
Headlight intermittently shuts off. It will later come back on again. Same with a tail-light. There are lots of complaints about this please come up with a solution. It seems to be an extremely expensive fix at a dealership due to defective parts.
When vehicle is started no dash lights for fuel gage, speedometer, odometer inoperable due to faulty combination meter. No recall just extended warranty that Toyota will not replace.
I believe its a glitch in the car's computer. At unpredictable and intermittent intervals the electronic heads up display does not operate. This leaves me with no speedomoeter, no fuel level indicator, no bright or dim indicator for the headlights, and the cruise control does not work. During the incidents the car also might not respond to the power off button, so it keeps running. This problem might last for a day or two and then it starts to work again.
As I was reversing and my foot was on the gas pedal a loud beep came on, all of the dashboard warning lights lit up including the brake light. I checked to see if my parking brake was on and it was not. I put the car on park and turned the car off and on. My car worked I drove a few minutes and as I was approaching the freeway I luckily came to a stop on a red light. Suddenly the same loud beep, warning lights, and break light came on and this time because my foot was on the brake pedal I felt the brake extremely hard/stiff. Because I was at a red light I quickly put my car on park turned the car off and then on again and made a right turn to avoid going on the freeway. I decided to carefully drive to a family member's house close by going no more than 25 mph with my emergency lights on I did not want to risk my brakes stiffening up and failing but I was in a congested area with no parking. I was fortunate enough not to get on the freeway and I was fortunate enough that this failure happened on occasions where I was either going very slow or already stopped. I don't know what could happen if I had to come to a stop and could not because my brakes were stiff. Toyota will not cover this manufacturers abs actuator defect that they know about because the deadline was Dec. 2017. This is dangerous and can lead to accidents and even death.
Afternoon 07/11/17 while driving downhill @ 50 mph my 2006 Toyota Prius turned off- no steering, exterior lights, dash/computer lights, radio- except for front interior dome light. No warning lights prior to or after car turned off. I was able to brake (very stiff brakes) & pull over. Replaced 2015 12v battery hoping for quick fix. Car still would not turn on, could not be towed on flat bad for fear of damaging transmission. Car was towed to closest mechanic. On 07/12/17 independent mechanic said both coolant pumps failed and the leaking shorted a fuse and turned off the car. Every time they attempted to replace fuse it would pop fuse again. Mechanic replaced water pump (including coolant/antifreeze) & inverter electric pump (including inverter cooler water) & changed auto transmission fluid & filter ($1,115). Early morning 07/14/17 dash display would not light up when car was turned on- no speedometer, odometer, gas gauge, reverse camera. (happened couple of times in past but could not duplicate for dealer. ) while driving to Toyota dealer I noticed computer screen stuck @ 48 mpg & 61 miles driven, but never increased miles as I drove 18 miles or updated mpg calculation. Refused to turn off car until someone from Toyota dealer looked @ dash to verify condition. Toyota dealer says combo meter (combination meter) failure, which is not recall but "campaign" that expired & repair costs $1,111. Motherboard part can take up to 3 weeks but car cannot be driven while Toyota "burns" my computer's information into new computer part. Toyota dealer provided loaner car until repair is completed. On 07/14/17 called Toyota & filed complaint about water pump & combo meter. Toyota says hybrid electric water pump campaign did not affect my VIN, which I do not believe. Toyota says combination meter campaign expired for my VIN. Pending call back from Toyota at this time.
The passenger side headlight intermittently turns off and on. The lightbulb is still functional. This will happen wether I'm driving or stationary.
Car was brought to Toyota of hollywood, florida for a new battery. When it was returned none of the dashboard was working: no speedometer, no gear shift indicator, no fuel gauge, no engine warning lights, no backup indicator beeper. Additionally it takes many tries over minutes to turn the car off and it locks the rear hatch which cannot be opened with the inside door unlock button. Obviously this is a dangerous and hazardous situation which I expected that the dealer and manufacturer, Toyota, would take care of immediately. They claim that the car is out of warranty and won't fix it. It should be part of a vehicle safety recall.
Drivers side headlight intermittent.
The problem first started in winter of 2016, only when temperatures were below 30 degrees. The trunk hatch release switch would not fully release, causing me to have to work the switch several times and pull up hard on the hatch in order to open it. The problem slowly got worse and weather no longer played a role in affecting it. It stopped working completely and no longer would open the hatch so it needed to be replaced.
The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the instrumen panel failed causing the contact to be able to view the reading levels. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the combo meter failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer advised that the instrument panel warrenty repair had expired and that the repairs would be at the contacts expense. The failure mileage was 150,000.
Without warning the dashboard stopped working. The car was stopped and power button was pushed at the time when fact occurred in a very isolated place with no cell phone service an little chance of any other car passing by. The car does not display anymore speed, mileage, fuel level and gearbox position, although the car was otherwise driveable. Warning lights are not working anymore also. Backup camera and lights also stopped working. Car also does not turn off most of time (the power button might work at random with some insistence). According to information gathered this could have been caused by a faulty combination meter, which Toyota was servicing for free for some time owing to a high failure rate.
The car was at a stop light when all the dashboard lights went out (nightime). When I tried to turn the vehicle off, the car would not shut down. This is a known problem to Toyota especially on high mileage vehicles. The car has 217,000 miles (original owner). Toyota issued t-sb-0172-09 as a "warranty enhancement program" in order to avoid an official recall of the problem. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline by 3 months.
While driving, the instrument panel combination meter that displays the vehicle speed and other information went blank. After pulling over car, I tried to turn it off using the power button but it would not turn off. After a few tries, I held down power button for 5 seconds and it finally did go to accessory mode, but did not turn off altogether. It took several presses of the button to finally get the car to shut off. I talked to my local Toyota service center who told me that this is a known issue and Toyota extended the warranty for the combination meter to 9 years (t-sb-0172-09). Unfortunately, I was 4 months past the 9 year mark, so it would cost me $1500 to replace the part. I have since talked to two other people I know who have the same model Prius and they have had the same issue in the past year, one of which was replaced under warranty as he had the problem before the 9 year mark. The other was in the same situation as me as it happened after the 9 year mark. An online search shows that this is becoming a very common issue and happening to many just after the 9 year warranty expires, resulting in a lot of upset owners. I did check my files and see that a warranty enhancement notice was sent to me a couple of years ago that states that this issue has been reported by a limited number of owners and that if it does has happened to my car, I did not need to take action at this time. In hindsight, I should not have followed the instructions and instead took my car in and insisted on a warranty repair. I believe that this is a serious safety issue that should be handled as a recall rather than with a warranty enhancement with a limited warranty period. The car has less than 34000 miles on it.
The insturment cluster ( speedometer, backup camera, etc) failed one night. A system reset restored things the next day, but now it has started to fail routinely. This is a safety issue y incapacitating the speedometer and the backup comera. Toyota states they have extended the warranty once and will not fix it, even though this car has never had this issue before. The car has 60,000 miles. The car also fails to turn off leaving a major potential for an unavoidable accident.
Hid lights fail while driving , at night it is very dangerous and can cause an accident. Where do I go to get them repaired / replaced without paying for the manufactures defective equipment ? I live in san jose, CA. 95111.
Dash board disabled . Caint see totally black.
Tl-the contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the combination meter failed and the instrument panel became inoperable. The failure occurred once. The contact also stated that after several attempts the vehicle shut down. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000. Ec.
The combo meter on my car went dark this morning. I called Toyota and was told that my warranty expired 2 months ago. This is not safe because there is no indication on what the vehicle is doing. Also this feature causes the car to not shut off.