Carrier/rack problems of the 2008 Toyota Prius

The 2008 Prius has a digital display. Sometimes when the vehicle starts up there is no information displayed on the screen. Nothing shows what gear (reverse, neutral, forward) it is in. There is no speedometer display. No odometer display. No fuel level display. At the same time that the dash does not light up, I have noticed there is no backup camera or backup lights when the vehicle is in reverse. In addition to the above, the start button will not fully shut down the car. It will cycle between accessory mode and full start when the button is pressed. I have noticed that when the problem is happening the vehicle is also not keeping track of the miles driven while the dash is not displaying - so when the dash does start working again, the odometer is not showing true mileage. After getting the vehicle to finally shut down, I have sometimes had the issue not present the next day at startup. Other times it will last through several starts and stops. I have read online that this problem is consistent with a faulty combination meter. And I feel it is a safety issue.

The rubber rear hatch door release button on my 2008 Toyota Prius started to degrade and become sticky in hot summer weather. I originally thought that the latch was sticky and greasy because dealership service people had opened the car with greasy hands, but then the latch button cover became stiff and difficult to press a few months later, when the weather turned cold. This became a real safety hazard when I loaded the car completely full of my belongings on a cold night to move cross-country the next morning, and the door latch was so stiff and brittle from the cold that it cracked and broke, but the hatch wouldn't open. My chains, spare tire, tools, jumper cables, etc. Were all stuffed back there, completely unreachable from the front because the car was full (one of the items was a bed frame, which probably could not be removed without opening the rear hatch). Needless to say, I didn't feel very comfortable starting a 2-day cross-country drive on winter roads the next morning, without access to my emergency equipment. Eventually, the latch button started working again, but it remains cracked, hard in the cold, and gooey in the summer. I am hoping to replace this part as soon as I am able to spend the $300¿500 that the dealership charges for this repair. This latch button is clearly defective and was tested for neither cold (<40ºf) nor warm (>80ºf) weather.