60 problems related to equipment have been reported for the 2008 Toyota Prius. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Toyota Prius based on all problems reported for the 2008 Prius.
This isn't a "safety" issue so I hope this is the right place to file this. The trunk latch on the Toyota Prius disintegrates. I believe the material, design is poor. It will cost $487 to replace this.
The back latch of my 2008 Toyota Prius has degraded ("melted" almost). It no longer functions properly, and I am unable to open the back hatch door easily. Sometimes it requires considerable effort and perseverance to get it open. I am concerned that in the case of an emergency, I will not be able to get the door open. This is a major cause for concern and it is a serious safety hazard. The item in question is a rubber pad, about 1" x 3", located facing down on a horizontal surface of the trunk lid, just above the license plate. It covers a momentary contact switch. When you depress the switch, through this rubbery pad, the computer checks to see if there's a key in the vicinity. If there is, the automatic latch for the trunk is activated and the trunk opens. The rubber pad deterioration interferes with the functioning of the latch and Toyota refuses to address this issue proactively in spite of numerous complaints related to the defective materials they have used.
When I started the car the dash lights didn't come on. This has happened 3 times. Doesn't really sound like a big deal until you realize you don't know how fast you're driving, don't know how much gas you have - not to mention, if anything goes wrong with the car while this is happening the warning light will not illuminate. Also when this happens the car doesn't turn off.
Trunk latch handle is a sticky mess. Leaves black marks on fingers. Fix this problem Toyota!.
The latch cover on the hatchback has deteriorated and is almost completely melted away. In warm weather it is incredibly sticky and anything that touches it gets black goo on it, and the goo is hard to remove form hands or anything else. It has been hard to open for more than a year, and has gotten so bad that we have had to replace it today at a cost of $285. I emailed Toyota customer service months ago about the problem, and they said they have never heard this is an issue on their vehicles.
2008 Prius headlamps intermittent hid problem. This is a known and common problem with Toyota Prius 2004-2009. No recall for it that I am aware of, however they light will go out randomly. The cost of repair can been extreme. . Read more...
This happened when I was driving in sfo city on an uphill street. It was bumper to bumper traffic and the car was going just fine (stop-and-go), and at one point it just stopped on the uphill and won¿t pull up. I had half+ tank of gas, battery was showing 4 bars, the car was on (all electrics okay) but won¿t pull up even when pressing hard on the gas. There was a emergency warning light that came (system malfunction or something). I even restarted the car, but no help. Finally aaa came and towed the car and brought it back to the normal road and it started running fine?? not sure what caused this? I strongly suspect that this has something to do with the hybrid switching. My car service (dealer) says the 12v battery (not the hybrid one) could be dead/low.
When I try to open the trunk, the rubber piece that you touch in order to open the trunk seem to have melted. My fingers turn black every time I try to open the trunk. Does anyone know what that rubber piece is called or the part number so that I can replace it? it makes the rear hatch very hard to open in hot and cold weather.
Rear hatch button rubber has melted. Causes electrical hatch opening mechanism to fail completely. Rubber remains sticky in hot weather, transfers tarry residue to fingers. In cold weather button will not function at all. Safety issue because rear hatch is not accessible. Can not access spare tire. There is no hatch release available at driver's seat in front. There is no mechanical only alternative. Child trapped in trunk would have no way out. Despite numerous and well documented cases reported online Toyota will not fix problem voluntarily.
Last week I went out driving with a friend, I was delivering meals on wheels to various homes in my area. At one house I braked the car to a stop and shifted into park and left the motor running. I then got out of the driver’s seat, went and opened the back door, took out the necessary meals, closed the door and then went into the house for the delivery. In the meantime, my friend sat in the parked car and after a very few minutes got out of the car to look at something in the neighboring garden. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the car creeping forward. She rushed to the car and tried to stop it but couldn’t and so began to scream my name… just at that time I finished my delivery came out of the house and noticed the car was not parked where I left it and heard her screams. I ran to the driveway and saw the car moving forward. I ran after it, managed to open the door and pushed the power button to turn off the motor. This stopped the car just in time before running either into a tree, into another car or off the driveway down a cliff. We were, obviously very shaken up by the incident. No one knows why or how the car went out of park into drive. Both my friend and I are sure the car was stationary when I left it and when she left it. It seems to have suddenly shifted. I have gone back to that site to check if there was in incline or anything that would have caused the car to move. The ground was flat, dry and nothing was there to account for this incident. I am writing this to see if this is a problem for the Prius. Is it something I must be aware of? is there something that must be done to prevent this from happening again? and I would like this to be noted and made a record of by the company and the board of transportation. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had this problem?.
Some months ago the driver's door lock stopped working. I ended up using the key to open the door for a couple of months, since Toyota dealer quoted me $500 to correct the problem. After a couple of months, I decided to pay and the issue was fixed. To my surprise, the front passenger door lock is going bad now. When I try to unlock it from within the car, using the "unlock doors" button, it will work every 3rd time or so. Clearly a bigger issue, not isolated to my individual vehicle. I only have 70000 miles and always serviced my vehicle at the Toyota dealers. I would like Toyota to pay to fix my lock and reimburse me for the actuator I already paid to replace.
My car is consuming oil. Told Toyota dealer about it 2-3 years ago several times and they kept saying just add oil. Now it is worse. I need to add oil every gas fill up. Not leaking or burning, but using oil! I have added 4 quarts since last oil change and only gone over approx 2200 miles.
As an active duty member of the military, I move frequently. My mailing address was at address "a", then I moved to address "b" nearly two years ago. Since the move, I have received several mailings at address "b" from Toyota dealerships (spam mail, flyers, etc. ) and from Toyota corporation (pending recall notices). I recently received at address "b" a notice from Toyota corporation that there was an upcoming recall for my vehicle's steering shaft and water pump. The actual recall notice, with instructions on how to receive repairs at Toyota's expense, was just mailed last week to address "a". I still live at address "b" and never changed my address back to "a". Fortunately, the current resident of address "a" forwarded the recall notice to me, at personal expense. It's hard to imagine how Toyota could accidentally revert to an earlier address only for the mailing notice that costs Toyota time and money. I went to the Toyota website to update or verify the address they have on file for an owner. Before an owner can access that information, the owner must read through a lengthy "terms and conditions" agreement and provide an e-mail address so that, among other things, Toyota can send "offers". I'm not interested in additional "offers" from Toyota, nor permitting an open marketing agreement with them. I would only like my defective product repaired.
The electric hybrid pump failed on 01/08/2013 and was replaced by the Toyota dealer which was under recall, and less than 13 thousand miles and 4 months later (05/13/14), the same part failed again and this time I was charged over $700 to have it replaced again.
Intermittenly either headlamp may go out. Turning off and on the headlamps turns the dead lamp back on.
Black handle on hatch started melting. After only about 4 years use, the rubber cover on the hatch release handle (the exterior handle of the rear hatch) of my 2008 Toyota Prius, melted into a sticky tarry black rubbery gooey mess. It drips down on the rear bumper. I can best describe it as being a viscous black glob like roofing tar. To open the hatch, you have to touch this black goo each time, which makes it difficult to operate the hatch release. Eventually this will disable the latch from operating. I went to Toyota dealer to complain about it but did not get any answers and choose to ignore it. I am asking for your agency to take a look at these instances and also to ask Toyota why they are not recalling these handles. Thanks for your help.
The black hatch release on my 2008 Toyota Prius has melted making it very difficult (sometimes impossible) to open the hatch. Toyota is apparently aware of this problem yet refuses to issue a recall. The cost to replace with part exceeds $300. This is a safety issue as doors need to function properly on a vehicle.
Trunk hatch release rubber piece started going soft; it is now melted and completely disintegrated into the latch locking mechanism.
Approximately February of 2012 my headlights began to randomly turn off. If I turned the headlights off, and then on again, they would turn back on. However, since this first occurance, both headlights would turn off. One will no longer turn back on. I have replaced the bulb ($300) and this did not fix the problem. I was told from the Toyota dealership that the headlight computer would need to be replaced ($1800). To date, I have been pulled over approximately 5 times for driving without headlights. This is a huge safety issue. I am terrified that the safety of my two boys, along with myself is at stake. Please investigate this. This is not o. K.
Rear liftgate rubber guard has become melted and gooey causing intermittent back liftgate door look issues. I need to replace just the rubber piece.
I have reported this issue to this website in the past. The traction control disables the drive wheels inconsistently and arbitrarily under many circumstances, often resulting in a real safety hazard. It can happen when starting from a stop on dry or wet pavement or when hitting small bumps/holes at low speeds (25-45 mph). This is extremely frightening when trying to pull into traffic from a stop on dry pavement - power is cut, slowing entry into moving traffic and increasing accident potential. The local Toyota dealer tells us that nothing can be done about it. Surely it's a serious enough hazard that needs to be addressed.
2008 Prius hid headlights failing. Starting at around 48,000 miles. Can't they make a headlight for about $20 instead of even the $150 that they want just for the bulb. Toyota should at least offer free labor to replace the bulb. Can't believe they can't make a cheaper bulb that should last about the lifetime of the car.
This pertains to any hybrid vehicle. While walking past one in a mall parking lot, the driver started to back out. Since the engine does not engage at this speed, there is no audible warning to pedestrians and if the driver is not paying enough attention, the pedestrian could be injured.
The back latch on my 2008 Toyota Prius trunk has been made with faulty materials. The poor choice in materials used to construct the latch are a safety concern. In extreme temperatures, the latch does not function properly. In extreme heat, the latch melts and burns and sticks to my hand and anything else it comes in contact with. In extreme cold temperatures I am unable to get my trunk open. This was a design flaw that could affect my safety if I was ever in need of getting into my trunk, or out of it in a life or death situation. If I was stuck in my car and the only way out was through my trunk because of a crash or avalanche or other disaster, I better hope that it's on a nice warm day, because if it's on a cold day I'm screwed as it will be nearly impossible to get me out. This is a design flaw on the part of Toyota, and I would appreciate them taking into account their customers safety and remedying an issue that was caused by them using a material that does not work in extreme temperatures. I love a lot about my Prius, but a latch that melts and freezes and only works properly when the temperature is between 45 and 75 isn't acceptable to me.
In 2025 I decided to clean the hybrid battery fan. I removed the side panels and found that the fan to battery duct had never been installed. I am the original owner and no one had ever removed the inside panels or had reason to remove the duct. This has likely resulted in the overheated battery which now needs replacing even though I have only 161,000 miles on this car which I have always maintained without fail regarding oil changes and other maintenance tasks.