Toyota Investigating Complaints About Hybrid Prius Stalling for US Drivers

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBK3677U8E.html

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota is investigating complaints about its hit hybrid Prius cars stalling in the United States, company officials said Tuesday.

A few owners of the 2004 and 2005 Prius models are saying their cars stalled, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., the Japanese automaker's U.S. sales arm, said in a statement, without elaborating.

Hybrid vehicles deliver better mileage by switching between a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Toyota Motor Corp. leads in hybrid sales, with cumulative global sales of 381,500, and the Prius has become a popular seller in the United States.

Toyota, which learned of the stalling problem last Friday, is looking into issues including the number of complaints, technical issues and causes, the statement said.

[Kagemusha]

1. A few. And they're investigating it.

GM, Ford, look no further for an explanation of why you are losing market share.

[madhat]

2. My Prius is awesome!

No stalling and still getting almost 50 mpg!

Boy is Detroit mad....

[Bigmack]

12. Wife got 61.3 ....

on a 35 mile drive and has NEVER let me forget it. We never get below 50.3 in our 2005.

[cyberpj]

13. My Prius is awsome too!

And has been awesome since Fall of 2001!

I just LOVE IT!

[Coastie for Truth]

3. RUMOR CENTRAL ISSUE

A certain Detroit Automobile Company - featured in Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" has been alleged to be behind the following rumors--

1. In the original Chrysler Minivans - if you towed a boat trailer, the left front wheel would come off. (The was before they had their own mini-vans)

2. With anti-lock brakes, you can stop so fast that the sudden deceleration will cause neck injuries. (This was before they had their own ABS)

3. With anti-lock brakes, you can stop so fast that the car behind you can not stop in time. (This was also before they had their own ABS).

There are lots of others traced back to them. This smells phishy---

[alittlelark]

4. That was my thought too - I wonder who owns the 'few'?

[krkaufman]

18. GM's strategy is simply to increase their advertising budget

Rather than investing in R&D for alternative technologies, GM has built hundreds of Hummer dealerships across the country and appears to be throwing money at convincing us through advertising that their Hummers, SUVs and other guzzlers are just what we need.

I even heard a GM advertisement on Franken's show today (WLIB streamed), with a soothing female voice telling me everything will be better if I put my faith in GM. (paraphrasing heavily) I was howling out loud.

[jasmeel]

5. Their was an earlier story on Yahoo homepage about tire

problems with the hybrids. I immediately felt that they were trying to paint the hybrids as weak or risky compared to the sturdy SUV (which flips all the time but, ignore that). People will begin to pair the feelings of unsafe, risky, weak with the hybrid. I guess I like to be risky and unsafe ;)

[Tempest]

6. Prius newsgroup I belong to reports zero problems

There's about 300 Prius owners who are members and not one reported this problem so far.

This is obviously a plant.

[krkaufman]

19. Well, here's another one then...

I'd heard a report -- somewhere (TV, radio, brother?) -- in the last week that Prius' were having problems with the continuous transmission -- requiring an $8,000 repair job.

I'm starting to wonder if this wasn't another of GM's rumors.

[Tempest]

22. There were transmission problems back in 2000

But those cars were recalled.

Very few transmission problems since then, and no where near the 300,000 cars GM had to recall recently.

[dbt]

7. What a turnaround from the 98 Sienna clusterfuck!

Those of us who had Toyota engines start burning oil at around 50,000 miles were told that it was our fault for not changing the oil properly. We had to replace those engines at our own expense.

After a year or so, Toyota "generously" offered to reimburse us, but would not admit fault.

For the sake of Prius owners, I hope Toyota learned something from the Sienna/Camry engines--like how to stand behind its own warranty and how NOT to treat customers. As for me, I will never own another Toyota product.

[mahina]

9. Wow, that is amazing...

My Chevy Blazer's abs failed (car would not stop) and caused an accident, which Chevrolet dealter denied any responsibility for. That was the last Chevrolet I ever owned and I was a lifetime Chevy buyer. Not because of the problem, but because of the way they handled it.

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Sounds like my experience with GM

1) First Corvair - engine valves ruined at 27K miles - changed the oil and filter every 2K miles - they told me it was my fault.

2) Second Corvair - transmission failed at 20K miles - told me it was my fault. No compensation or help.

3) First Malibu - differential failed at 3K miles, told me it was my imagination - totally failed in traffic about 500 miles later- new differential. Transmission failed at 25K miles - told me it was my fault (I had my authorized Chevy dealer change fluids, seals every 10K miles).

4) First Cavalier - radiator plugged up withing 3 months of taking delivery - dealer attempted repairs about every 2K miles after that - overheated regularly. Cracked block - dealer told me it was my fault.

5) Happy with my Toyota. (my son put over 100K "college student" miles on my old Corolla - only did "PM" when daddy visited him at college. Beat the crap out of the car - and it was still running smoothly. Have my fifth Toyota.

Oh - I went to college on a General Motors National Merit Scholarship and a Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild cash award. Worked for the prime vendor on the General Motors EV1 project. Will never have another GM car. Happy with my Toyotas.

This sounds to me like the GM campaigns against the Chrysler minivan - and against their own EV1 and EV2 (sue Toshiba and Toyota on frivolous patent infringement charges, bad mouth the cars, etc.)

[geniph]

11. Contrast that with my experience with Subaru...

Took my Forester in for its 30K service, and mentioned that the clutch seemed kind of grabby. Three hours later, they called to say my car was ready, and oh, by the way, the clutch was installed improperly, so they'd replaced it with a new clutch. No charge. No hassle.

[XemaSab]

27. I've got a corolla

and mechanically it's perfect at 130K, but all the plastic in the interior is having *issues*.

Whole area from the radio to the ashtray is coming off, door to the little cabinet there came off, plastic covering the bar over the driver's door came off, sealing around passenger's door is coming away, seal around the front windshield is peeling, sun visor broke off, and the cup holder in the back keeps popping out of the socket.

Additionally, the trunk plate isn't flush with the body. It's all really stupid little cosmetic issues, but HONESTLY, it's just way too many stupid little things going wrong.

[Orsino]

8. Haven't heard anyone say yet...

...that Prii are any more likely to stall than any other kind of car.

Fifty miles into the current tank, I'm getting over 56 mpg in mine.

[democracyindanger]

14. "Mexicans pee in Corona Beer" redux nt

[truthisfreedom]

23. yuck! okay, no more Corona for me.

kidding. 8^)

[gavodotcom]

15. Let's have a news story about ever other car screw-up.

GM can't make a seatbelt. Ford has a "fireball" car every 15 years.

I'd rather stall on the highway than slam into the steering column as my gas tank explodes.

[Chicago Democrat]

16. yeah, no kidding. My Jeep Cherokee has a recurrant problem noone can fix!

the problem is it cost 40 dollars every single time I fill up!


groan....

[Greyskye]

17. Much ado about nothing

There are already 2 updates available (SSC-40A & LSC-40E) which appear to prevent some or all of the problems reported.

The MSM is doing its usual stellar job at reporting. :sarcasm: They stated there were 13 reports. In reality, there were actually 14; but 3 of them were duplicates. Using my fingers and toes, that appears to work out to 11 reports, clearly pointing out their failure to verify accuracy. You can check this out for yourself at the NHTSA website: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/.

A couple of the 6000+ members of the Prius owners website that I frequent (www.priuschat.com) have experienced an event while driving where the car indicated to the driver that they should immediatly pull over. The car was still drivable - the software simply found a condition that it wasn't happy with. Software updates fixed these issues.

And with 11 out of what - 88,000 Prii on the road? - that's a failure rate of 0.0125% The horror!

How many times have these peoples non-hybrids died on the freeway? Sheesh. :eyes:

Yes, we love our Prius!

[Coastie for Truth]

24. Here's a link to the service recall--

- it's a PDF file.

No lies, No cover-ups. No accusations against the owner.

[Greyskye]

25. And here is a summary of LSC-40E

LSC 40E - Early 2004 Toyota Prius Engine Compartment Seal

Letter Summary:
In certain early production 2004 Prius, rain or carwash water can seep into the engine compartment at the top of the cowl. If it does it can cause decreased engine perfomance and trigger a MIL and the ECM will put the vehicle into a "limp-home" mode.

Relatively minor issue, fixable by a new seal around the hood.

[Coastie for Truth]

26. I worked on the EV1 project for a principal vendor

and GM did not want the EV to succeed. They wanted it to fail. But it was more successful then those bean counters could have imagined. So they killed.

That's why their bonds are "Junk Bonds"

Forget Michael's "Fahrenheit 9/11" - the real one is "Roger and Me"

[natrat]

20. GM desperate

slime in the media will push

[MGKrebs]

21. An acqaintance of mine just got out of the hospital

after an incident like this.
I am unclear (and perhaps she is too) if the car actually died or if the dashboard lights just started freaking out, making her think it was dead or dying.

So I'm just sayin', I like the Prius too, but just because I like them doesn't mean this stuff isn't happening.

edit to add a link for more info:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef64fbc/0