general problems of the 2010 Toyota Prius

Have multiple warning lamps that light up on and off and the brakes in my car get spongy making the braking unsafe. The lights that turn on are the steering/ traction , brake, and abs light. There are multiple complaints online on youtube from similar issues ongoing and no recall made. My mechanic says it indicates a leak however there is no brake fluid missing and on youtube there’s work arounds because people keep getting the same message, yet no recall has been made. This can affect steering and cause an accident. Please recall soon. Including youtube link so you can see all the comments and issues from thousands that don’t know how to report but view to fix temporarily. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Hello there, my name is lashyrah and I do not know much about cars so most of this is unknown. The person I bought my vehicle from did not give me much information and I was desperate at the time so I bought it. Most of the lights on the dashboard are abs, brake system, engine, tire/safety alert, fuel pump reset warning, and stability control are lights that come and go. I have used the code system to try to reset these things and they go away then pop back up. Sometimes while I am driving, all the dashboard lights disappear and the breaks start getting really touchy and it feels completely different driving until the previous lights all come back on. This has been an issue before and when I last went to Toyota to get my car serviced, I asked them to check the lights and system, and if they could do a multi-point inspection. They wanted me to pay $300 just to find out why the lights keep coming back on. Please help me get this fixed at no cost I am a single mom and college student working part time so I need my car to get around or a free loaner car to get around until this is fixed. I strongly feel these are recalls that did not get taken care of or are not showing up in the recall system. I need assistance as soon as possible and would like to know my options, especially after getting a notice in the mail a few days ago from Toyota about my car possibly being affected. My fuel gauge is also empty at around 3 bars or sometimes 2 bars instead of going all the way down to empty, costing me more money on gas having to fill it up more often. Thank you for your time and help.

While the vehicle was in motion, the engine started shaking, the steering and brakes locked up and the engine ceased up as the car shut off. Got error code p3190 for poor engine power, and then a day later everything was normal. This is the 2nd time this has happened while driving, the first time was in a 2002 Prius.

The vehicle was having issue with the steering locked up when turning with motion about 20+mph. The hybrid system is not as advertised the 50mpg in any way as it only gets average about 35mpg. The vehicle has 87000 miles and the old symptoms from second generation followed suit with it. The dash went totally off when weather is cold and suddenly turned back on when it gets warm. I had driven a few miles without the dash on and it was a bad experience since I cannot figure out the speed or what is going on. The steering is the major issue as we dare not to drive the car and the technicians from the dealer said nothing wrong with the vehicle but third party technicians recommend to take to Toyota for recall. U turns are the worse that locked the steering and the car almost come to a stop with beeping alarms.

I had been driving the car and had experienced the loss of power described in recent articles as being an inverter problem (that was the subject of a software update by Toyota that may not have fixed the issue). After experiencing this issue several times, my autobody shop recommended replacing the throttle body as the diagnostic codes were not 100% clear what the problem was. I have replaced the throttle body and not had the issue since, but I thought I would report this just in case this is related to the inverter issue. The issue I had was exactly as described -- driving the car, then suddenly losing power and practically unable to move the vehicle (I was able to drive it maybe 3 mph with no power steering, barely got out of an intersection in front of oncoming traffic one time it happened). This happened at various times, always while moving, both on the highway and on city streets, straight/turning. The only time it didn't seem to happen was when stationary. . Read more...

Steering intermediate shaft and extension is prone for failure due to design and/or material.

Check hybrid system car shuts off and can not restart, tried system reset per manual but would not clear hybrid. Towed to dealer, dtc code p3004-800, tech said this was the only code, had recall eoe reflash 04-14-2014 ipm extended 15 years. Car was in motion per wife. (it had been raining) the dtc p3004-800 power cable malfunction.

Driving on a extremely rough street, my car jerked to the left. I tried braking, but unmovable objects (street sign and phone junction box) provided the stop. Airbags did not deploy, but force of car pushed me hard into the steering wheel. I had my safety belt on, plus back brace. Emts noted 60% O2, in icu on respirator for a week, hospital for 2 wks. Distinctly, I remember the steering wheel jerked to the left.

About a mile after having entered the freeway as I was merging towards the carpool lane the car shut off in the number three lane. The dashboard displayed the message, "check hybrid system", and would not respond. My speed was approximately 65 mph when this occurred. I immediately pressed on the break but the car was not slowing down as it normally does. When I finally got over to the number 1 lane, I entered the emergency lane but was still having trouble coming to a stop. I brushed up against the freeway wall in order to come to a complete stop. After switching the car off and attempting to restart it, I would get no respond and all the dashboard indicators would remain on with the "check hybrid system" displayed. This incident was terrifying as I was driving with my two year old daughter and two other occupants. The car should have displayed a warning and not simply stalled out. If this incident had taken place a few minutes later, I would have been in the hov lane and could have resulted in a devastating accident.

My Prius iv, purchased new in 2010, intermittently had a lunging forward problem when going over speed bumps, pot holes etc. I would have to stop it by braking quickly, so I didn't collide with a car ahead. I informed Toyota of this problem within the first year. They tested it and said they could find nothing. I mentioned this to them on various occasions when I took the car for its periodic maintenance of 5000 mile intervals. On December 26, 2012 I was stopped waiting to go left when I was rear-ended. I went to pull over to the side of the road to assess the damage. When I accelerated to get to the side of the road,the car took off crazily, at a high rate of speed for about 6-7 seconds, zigzagging uncontrollably on the 2 lane road. If there were cars coming toward me, I would have been in a head on crash. I immediately called Toyota service of scranton,PA and asked them to see and assess the car's problem. They made an appointment and concluded. Said there is no problem internally, and suggested removing the after market floormat. I then proceeded to show them the same problems many customers are having with the Prius , including an article by steve wozniak, the CO-founder of apple company, who had acceleration problems with his 2010 Prius. I called the main Toyota headquarters later, explaining the problem and they too said there is no malfunction , only mentioning the floor mats again. . This is not the case as the car has had acceleration problems from the beginning and to further clarify, I was able to finally stop the car. . . The mat was no where near the accelerator. I am afraid to drive this for others' safety, my passengers and my own safety. I take care of my cars faithfully. You can view my records. I am also fearful if I trade this car, someone else might get injured or killed. Can you please check and advise.

I was entering a parking space, I approached the space about 5 mph. The vehicle suddenly accelerated, the steering locked and the brakes went to the floor. The vehicle jumped the curbing and hit the truck in the next righthand space. It connected with the trucks left front fender. That stopped the vehicle.

I was entering a parking space. Turned right into space. The vehicle accelerated, steering wheel locked, and brakes did not respond!. The car sped over the curbing and hit the left front fender of the truck in the next space.

The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. The contact stated the tires wore prematurely. The contact had an alignment performed and the vehicle was inspected by several dealers and each time the contact was told there was no problem with the alignment or frame of the vehicle. The contact believed the failure to be a manufacturing defect because of the premature wear on the tires. The contact also owned a 2005 Toyota Prius in which the same failure occurred with the tires. The failure mileage was 17,000. Updated 10/12/lj updated 10/24/11.

The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the vehicle stability control light began flashing ashe was driving and the contact started to feel a disconnection with the steering causing him to crash into a median. The contact was only able to accelerate forward and backwards after the failure without attempting any turns because the steering was no longer operable. The vehicle was towed and the towing company discovered that the front driver side wheel was facing straight and the front passenger side wheel was facing at a 45 degree angle. The failure and current mileage was 31,634. Updated 05/04/11.

Brake failure. 2010 Toyota Prius iv -- the vehicle's brakes lose pressure and the brake pedal loses pressure (regardless of how hard I press on the brakes as this is happening). The brakes are temporarily disabled and the vehicle unexpectedly accelerates as a result of its momentum prior to initializing the brakes. The failure occurs when the vehicle passes over a dramatic change in the texture/friction of the road surface. I have experienced the failure dozens of times, when driving over metal surfaces (manhole covers, pothole covers, temporary construction covers, metal expansion inserts in bridges, etc), as well as small patches of condensation (such as small puddles under a bridge when the surrounding road is dry). The failure is not related to hydroplaning, and has occurred at speeds as low as 15 mph. The failure causes the vehicle to accelerate until a few seconds after it has passed over the slick surface. After returning to the regular road surface, the brakes slowly regain traction and resume their function of slowing the vehicle down. This failure occurs every time these criteria are met -- regardless of whether road conditions are wet or dry. So far no accidents have resulted from this failure on my vehicle, but I have been unable to control the problem or decrease its effects. Again, this problem occurs even at low speeds, such as in city traffic while braking to stop at an intersection. Many times it has caused me to nearly hit the vehicle in front of mine. So I have been forced to leave an extra 40 feet between my vehicle and anything in front of me, which is not always feasible because I live in an urban area. I have already taken this vehicle into the Toyota dealership as part of their recall to fix the software which controls the interactions between the hybrid brakes and the normal disk brakes. Local dealerships have consistently denied that there is a problem with the vehicle and the Toyota company will not return my phone calls.

Driving a 2010 Prius at speeds between 65 and 75 mph the car wanders in the lane and requires constant corrections. With windy conditions it is near impossible to stay in one lane. This is on I-75 in sw florida which is newly paved, flat, and straight. This has continued to happen since the car was bought new in Dec. 2009. Software recall did not fix the problem.

My 2010 Toyota Prius drifts when I'm trying to drive the car straight. The car is very difficult to maintain a straight ahead position. I have to constantly be turning the steering wheel left then right, especially while driving at highway speeds. The car drifts both to the left and right. It won't go straight for more than a few seconds. It's not the driver as I have let others drive the car and they notice it to. It is also not the road surface because it happens all the time on all roads. I now have about 10,000 miles on the car and I've noticed this problem from the 1st day I owned it. At 1st when I bought the car I thought it was me and that I needed to get used to the car. But the car still acts this way, drifting left and right when I'm trying to go straight.

We own a 2010 Prius. Although the hesitation in the braking has been at issue, we quickly learned to overcome the hesitation. Of more concern for us is the inability to steer the car on wet or smooth surfaces. When on water or snow there is no communication between the computer and the steering wheel. Warning lights come on and all steering ceases. This has resulted in several near misses when driving in traffic. If you look on edmunds. Com and Prius chat. Com you will see that this is a major concern for Prius owners and could potentially be a deadly problem if it hasn't been already. A car that doesn't steer or brake is a deadly combination.

Events leading up to failure: hitting the brakes and hitting a bump in the pavement of the road at the same time. How often: all the time, if you are hitting the brakes, and hitting a bump at the same time. What was done: nothing. Toyota claims nothing is wrong.

I have contacted my auto manufacturer about a steering problem. The car will not drive in straight line, it is ether going left or right. They have not responded to my complaint. I have to be very careful driving this car because it will wonder off of the road.

2010 Toyota Prius steering wheel has a place where rings can snag causing an over or under turn situation. Toyota service manager said that replacing the part that causes this lock up would not help the problem. One time occurrence for me but was very scary at the time.