Three problems related to instrument panel have been reported for the 2007 Toyota Prius. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Prius. While driving unknown speeds, the instrument cluster went dark and failed without warning. The contact called a local dealer (Toyota of redlands, 921 new york st, redlands, CA 92374) and was informed to schedule a service appointment. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer advised the contact that the vehicle was no longer under warranty and referred the manufacturer's legal department per the contact's request. The failure mileage was 191,000.
No one injured. Minor problem, but Toyota refuses suggestions "for legal reasons", so I have to report it to you, and hope that you will relay to Toyota. Good car, good dash lighting system, nice rheostat to dim the instrument panel lights at night, to assist in night road visibility. The problem is that as you dim the instrument panel lights, the lighted symbol for the emergency flasher light switch goes completely dark before the instrument panel lights do. So, on a dark night, you dim the lights to make the instrument panel lights just bright enough to read, without excess reflection or distraction, and the emergency flasher switch becomes invisible because its light went completely out before the other instrument panel lights did. This increases distraction and reduces reaction time when you need to find and turn on the emergency flasher light switch. I doubt this problem is limited to just my car. The simple solution (everything seems simple to the guy not doing the work) would be to design and wire the dash panel lights so that the emergency flasher switch light stays a little brighter than all the other lights, as they all dim. That way, the switch you might most need in a hurry will be visible, even if you have dimmed your instrument panel lights. Quicker turn-on of the emergency flasher alerts following drivers sooner, increasing their safety, and mine. Thanks for working to keep us all safer on the road, and to improve the vehicles we drive.
On a 2007 Prius gas gauge showed 2 bars and was driving across a bridge in California when the gas engine stopped. Looked at the gas gauge and it still showed 2 bars. Was fortunate enough to be on a section of the bridge with a breakdown lane. 1/2 mile further on and we would have been stuck in one of the traffic lanes. The vsc, check engine, and hybrid system failure indicators where on - but not the low fuel!!! got towed to a dealer. Service manager told us that the car was out of gas and that the "gas gauge was stuck" that's why it didn't show empty. He blamed it on the bladder design of the fuel tank and said it was "a design defect" that Toyota new about. This is a significant safety issue - we could have been killed.