Problems with 2004 Toyota Prius ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

When i started my vehicle, all the dash lights came on and remained on. i was able to put my vehicle in park and neutral only. i was unable to turn the power off on the vehicle. it was using electricity only. the gas engine would not kick in when stepping on the gas pedal. i let the car sit for about 5 minutes then was able to turn the power off. i was then able to start the car again and drive it. i traveled approximately 35 miles without incident. i then shut the car off. i then turned the car back on and the same incident occured for the second time that day. i called the dealership the following day to report the incident. i was told they were unable to do anything with the vehicle since it was running ok now. they did fax me a copy showing that i reported this incident. this vehicle has now stalled on me a total of 3 times within a 3 week period. the first incident was on 5/23/2005 and i had to have my car towed to the dealership.

dt: contact has a 2004 toyota prius, and while driving the vehicle it has failed on two separate occasions. a. how long and at what speed was the consumer driving before the vehicle lost power? approximately 15 -20 minutes, going about 45 mph. b. was the consumer accelerating, decelerating, or driving at a steady- state when the vehicle lost power? driving at a steady rate. c. after the vehicle lost power, was the driver able to continue driving the vehicle? if so, how long and at what speed? the vehicle was stopped and pulled off the road. d. did any warning lights appear before and/or after the incident occurred? yes , if so, describe the lights that were lit. check engine light. e. did the vehicle eventually stall and come to a stop? how long did this occur after the warning lights were lit? one part of the vehicle was operating but the driver could not accelerate. f. was the driver able to restart the vehicle right after it stalled? if so, how long did it take (# of attempts and/ or time ? ex: 3-4 times or 2-3 minutes)? yes, the engine light kept coming back on. 1 time, right after the vehicle stalled. *ak

2004 toyota prius developed problems with stalling.***no answer required***. *mr the first time the consumer experienced a problem with the vehicle, the dealer determined the battery was not holding a charge. the consumer experienced 2 other incidents with the vehicle. *jb

Dt: the warning lights came on consumer turned car around to take it to the dealer, and the car just shut off. dealer did clear everything (the lights), and the car started back up.*ak

Driving my 2004 prius about 25mph on my way home, all of a sudden warning lights on the dashboard lit up. the yellow brake system warning, the malfunction indicator, the master warning and the vsc warning lights were all on. the display had a message that indicated a hybrid system warning. the next day, upon stating the car, the brake system and the vsc warning lights had gone off. all other lights were still on. did not drive the car until i could contact dealer (it was a holiday weekend). after contacting service dept, they said to drive it into the dealer. while driving, the battery level was in the "magenta" range , about three bars, much lower than normal. it rose to the normal range prior to arriving at the dealer. the repair order states "found ecu calibration off" and "reprogarm ecu to new calibrationid 34705100". the lights are now off and the car seems back to normal. the service person was unable to reassure me that this problem would not happen again, only that it was easily fixed and toyota would cover it. my car had already had the ecu reprogrammed in 08/04, as per recall 40d.

My 2004 toyota prius stalled when i was going approximately 40 mph. i was able to coast to the shoulder, but then the car had to be towed to a dealership for a programming fix before i could drive it again.

This is not the first time that i have had this problem, but i just learned this is the venue to state my complaints(i have another complaint on this board. i bought this car to save gas,money and the environment,but now this car is doing none of these for me in stop and go traffic. while i'm stuck in traffic in dc(i395n), the battery takes over. the problem is the gas doesn't kick in when the battery is low. i find the battery doesn't stay charged for over 28minutes while moving in traffic about 3 feet every 5 or 10 minutes. i have figured out in order to not get stalled (which has happened to me, 2 times already,besides today.) i have to hold the brake pedal down with one foot and rev the gas pedal with the right foot in order to charge the battery and not get slammed into from a vehicle behind me! my wife refuses to drive the car now for fear that she'll stall. i'm filling my tank more often now than when i first got this vehicle. due to the reving of the vehicle which wastes my gas(sorta defeats the purpose of buying a hybrid for the most part!), also this can't be good for the environment either! oh and lets not forget the safety factor. i have people yelling at me and saying they want to bust my a**! and even an elderly woman with handicap plates gave me the finger right after she almost slammed into my stalled car. i'm embarrassed and scared to drive over 65 because the way the car died on me 2 times before.

Car was driving normal at 45 mph....engine quit. would not restart. car was towed to toyota dealer.

Dt: consumer was approaching an intersection while driving in a 2004 toyota prius at 45 mph and when all of the das light illuminated. as it turned out the vehicle was not receiving any power from the gas engine and the vehicle was running on electricity only. while entering the intersection the vehicle stalled. the consumer was able to put the vehicle in reverse to back the vehicle to the curb. then , put vehicle in park or neutral only, but was unable to shut the power off. consumer was unable to move the vehicle. after letting the vehicle sit 35-40 minutes was able to drive the vehicle onto the tow truck. vehicle was towed to toyota dealership where they reset the computer the following day. dealership told consumer they were seeing this happen frequently with the 2004 toyota prius hybrids. also, missed 1 hour of work the following day in order to get a rental car. *ak *tt *nm

Dt: 2004 toyota prius . the warning lights came on and the vehicle lost power. the vehicle came to stop on the freeway. the consumer was able to get to the shoulder and waited about 10 minutes. after the ten min the vehicle was restarted but had very little power. the consumer drove the vehicle to the dealer. the dealer reprogrammed the ecu as per tsb. no other problems as of yet. this failure was the only incident. *jb *nm

Dt: consumer stated: vehicle quit while driving, the warning lights did come on before it died. while going 30-35 mph and it just died and couldn't restart. the electrical system stayed on. called tow truck by the time they got there it started. still had to take it to dealer, and warning lights went out. dealership reprogrammed the computer.*ak *sb

Dt: while driving and without warning car stalled at 40 mph and had to be towed. caller could not turn power off from power switch. only thing that was working was the panel lights. dealer said it was a car computer problem. manufacturer has not been contacted yet. caller saw several articles that an investigation was on this car.*ak

2004 prius slowed, then stopped on a highway due to a software problem. towed to dealer. dealer corrected the next day.

While driving myh toyota prius has stalled for no reason 3 times. i've brought it in once after the 2nd time and they said that nothing was wrong.

A couple of months ago while driving my 2004 toyota prius it lost power and all sorts of warning lights came on. i took it straight to the dealer. at that time they told me it loss it's computer program and went into the "limp home" mode. they reprogamed it and it ran fine. on 5/8/05 after a short drive i stoped and when i tried to restart it, it would not start. all i could get was a lot of warning lights and a wirling sound. i called aaa to have it towed to the dealer. just as the tow truch arrived i tried to start it again and it started like normal. i drove it to the deal and explained the problem to them. they could not find any trouble codes or problem with the car. it has ran fine sence then. but i now worry when it will act up again.

Dt: consumer owns two 2004 toyota prius and both have shut down while driving. consumer has taken both vehicles to dealer and had them reprogrammed. *tt northbrook toyota reprogrammed cars computer, car is ok for now. *sb *nm

My wife's 2004 toyota prius lost power 100 miles away from home. she was with our 3 month old baby and fortunately was not rear ended or involoved in an accident.

Toyota prius owned by our agency has had the engine stall problem 3 separate times. *nm

5/6/05 my 2004 prius with 20,400 miles without warning loss all power and shut down while driving hazard light came on warning to take to toyota dealer. the vehicle would not start. the battery meter level was completely dead. the vehicle had to be towed to maita toyota 2500 auburn blvd, sacramento, ca 95821, 916 481-5353 for repair. the work order stated the cause was the ecu which was reprogramed which cleared stored codes. code pulled p3191. is this a new finding in the prius?

Dt: consumer has two 2004 toyota prius and both had engine failures while going between 30 and 40 mph. incident on may 28, 2005 and may 4, 2005 approximately.*ak northbrook toyota reprogrammed vehicle's computer. consumer states vehicle now performs ok. *tt *nm

Starting around may,2005, when vehicle was started with the battery indicator not quite at full capacity, lets say seven 'bars', just putting the car in reverse would begin the gradual decline of charge. if driving up a frwy ramp, the indicator would show the charge had dropped into the 'red' zone. at this time the engine would sound like the rpms were about 4,000, a real revving sound. slowly ,with a steady level drive the battery would recharge and look as if it were normal. there was no stalling of engine but i rarely drive as slow as 65 mph! the whole process, happening at least once a day was very nerve wracking...especially in the mohave desert with many 18-wheelers surrounding the car. the first time it happened i immediately called toyota of temecula valley. i was told that this was not good and to bring the car in for diagnosis. when i brought it in, a 'technician' looked at the indicator and said it was ok and not worry about it. i had a difficult time believing that and made an appt. with toyota of el cajon. when their technician used a diagnostic scantool he also said he could not find a problem. i did not believe him or the service $80/hr. guy and said there was either something wrong with their diagnostic tools and/or something wrong with them to think i would go along with their story. i had no idea how right i was until i read about the defect investigation on your website. my prius has not stalled (yet) but it has all the problems leading up to it. the dealership claims, on the work receipt they gave me, to have recalculated the hv ecu with the 40d code and the problem seems to be worse. i will have to go back again to the dealership and fight for my right to a speedy repair. *jb

Dt: toyota prius, vehicle stalled at 35 mph warning light came on. pulled over to side of road because caller was losing power from battery, and could not drive it. car was towed to dealer, and they could not find anything wrong with it. problem did not come up on car computer when diagnostic was done. manufacturer has not been contacted yet. caller read article in newspaper about prius. *ak *nm

Dt: the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. he states that vehicle lost power while traveling at high speeds.the incident just happened one time. the dealer reprogrammed the vehicle, not sure if it fixed it or not.*ak car lost power and would not re-start. it was towed to toyota service department. engine control unit was reprogrammed and car has since ran properly for 600 miles.*sb *nm

Consumer stated while traveling 40 mph all of a sudden , the lights illuminated on the dashboard and then everything shut off. the consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealer and they said it was a computer glitch regarding the release of gas to the engine. just before a loss of power the dvd navigation system went completely out about 2 miles before everything else. *jb the dvd navigation system failed as well. *sc

I was on the 101 freeway heading south when my 2004 toyota prius lost power, all warning lights came on; i coasted to the shoulder. it took several tries over a period of about 15 minutes to get the car shut off. i called toyota and they told me to bring it in if i could get it started, which i finally did.

My daughter was driving our 2004 toyota prius in fast traffic when there was a complete failure of the computer system and the car shut down. her life was in danger - but a policeman happened to be passing by and diverted traffic and called a tow truck. the car was taken to morristown toyota in morristown new jersey where it was determined that there was a computer failure. the computer stayed overnight at the dealer and they said the "refreshed" the computer and that "this should solve the problem." i am reporting this incident because of the dangereous situation that developed due to a computer failure - ad may fit in with other reports you are receiving.*ak

An article in yesterday's l.a. times (5/17) detailed a problem with the 2004/05 toyota prius, where it mentioned that 13 prius owners reported that their vehicles stalled suddenly, often at high speeds. on april 12, 2005, the exact same thing happened to me. while slowing from 65 m.p.h. on i-10 in west l.a. onto the i-405 interchange, easily one of the most congested highway interchanges in the country, my prius stalled and i was extremely fortunate to make it to the end of the interchange where the shoulder began. had it occured a mere two minutes later, i would have been in the fast lane of the 405, triggering a potential disaster and certain sigalert, as it occured at 8:15 a.m.--rush hour. my car had approximately 8,700 miles and was purchased new in august, 2004. i had it towed to toyota of santa monica where i purchased the car, and was dismayed at their nonchalance. a brand new car should not break down for no reason, and it could've resulted in a serious accident. more tro ubling, the toyota service department's technical assessment of the problem was that it was a "computer glitch," and that their repair service was to "reprogram the computer." i have been a loyal and vocal supporter of this hybrid vehicle, pleased in every way with the performance of the car. now when people ask, i give them much the same answer, but verbally insert an asterisk and tell them about the time it broke down without warning, and how i have no guarantee it won't happen again. you can count me as the 14th owner to report this identical problem. and you can be sure that we are only a percentage of the ever-growing prius owners who have experienced this. i hope your findings and the article will make their way to toyota's receptive and responsive ears. thanks.

2004 toyota prius sedan. stalls out while driving about 35 miles hour and the electric recharable battery drains. this has happened two times to me and i have taken it back to toyota deal for this. the 1st approximately jan -feb time frame. dealer could find nothing wrong. 2nd time approximately early april. dealer said had trouble code in computer and have corrected problem but let them know if happens again or any other problem. engine load, automatic gear shifts hard and car rolls slightly when put into park.

The car stopped in the middle of the road just after all the warning lights came on

Driving my 2004 toyota prius home from work, the car suddenly lost power a few miles from my home on a busy thoroughfare. i drifted to the side of the road. all warning lights on the dash were on. i turned off the car and restarted it. it went a few seconds before dying again. this continued several times until i made it home. the incident caused other cars to have to slow down, honk and move around me. i was very scared. it was late at night. i called my husband to come help me but he was not home. the next day the car started and i took it to the dealership. they could find nothing wrong, and said they "reset the engine/battery ratio" so the car would rely more on gas than electricity , and that i would experience a slight decrease in my engine efficiency. i later complained to the service manager, that my prius has had numerous electrical problems since i purchased it in august of2005. twice it would not start in the morning and i had to have it towed. he also told me that what the service person told me was incorrect, that there was no way they can "adjust" the engine/battery ratio. he gave no explanation for my problems and said "no one else" has had any problems with their cars. i want to return the car for a new one, but he says he feels "confident" toyota will correct any problems i am having. i am afraid to drive the car in case this happens again. toyota has done nothing since i have complained. i feel they owe me a new car while they figure this out.

Dt: the check engine light illuminated on the dash and remained on for about a day. other light illuminated as well but the consumer can't remember which ones. the consumer made it to his destination where he stayed 2 hours, and upon leaving the engine started immediately. the consumer called the dealer but they offered no diagnosis. the dealer did not reprogram the electronic control unit. *ak *nm

Omg, omg its so fresh in my mind!. i was terrified. my daughter(oldest) was in a terrible car accident and was taken to the hospital(mary washington in va.) i was at work and got the horrific call about 1745hrs (rush hour). i jumped in my car(2004-prius) i i can't tell you how i felt. as i entered the hov lanes from dc to va, my car started pausing..i've felt this before, so i hit the info button and see my battery took over and is on 4 lines! i then see the alert lights illuminate on my dash! this can't be happening?, not now!..i immediately hit my horn and avoid getting slammed into by vehicles behind me. i slowly creep on my last battery line onto the righthand shoulder. my prius died. i called toyotas' (rap>roadside assistance program) and a tow truck was sent. i broke down in dc and (toyotas' rap) only takes me 50miles from the breakdown. i live 62 miles away! this is not acceptable! i was towed to springfield toyotan and it was closed! (it is now 2130hrs! and i'm still not at the hospital and i'm in tears!) the tow truck driver was nice enough to tell me to call my insurance co. i did and they sent another tow truck to pick me up. it is now 2230hrs! i still don't know the status of my daughter! the tow truck brings me to fredericksburg but to a nissan dealership, it seems the address was wrong. we figured out that toyota pohanka was down the street and the tow truck driver was considerate enough to bring me there. i had to drop off the vehicle and lucky i had someone pick me up to bring me home. toyota pohanka of fredericksburg called me the next day and said they found error code p3191 referred to the tsb and reprogrammed the engine ecm per instructions.

Dt: all of the lights come on and the car stalls in mid-travel. *tt

Dt: how long and at what speed was the consumer driving before the vehicle lost power? he was driving for about 25 minutes and 35 mph and the warning lights illuminated. b. consumer's vehicle lost power?/decelerated and was going to make a left turn off a highway again the lights signaled warning ,but car was still running. called toyota to see what to do about this because there was no answer as to what those signals were. toyota told to continue driving and vehicle lost power. after driving the vehicle? if so, how long and at what speed? was unable to continue driving, had to be towed. called toyota about the lights not appearing. was told by toyota to continue driving, and vehicle lost power. *ak

2004 toyota prius died at 65 mph on i-395 carpool lanes. multiple warning lights flashed on. was able to coast it over and restart for a mile or two when it completely died again. was towed to springfield va toyota dealership were it was serviced. error codes c2318 (low voltage error - power supply malfunction), battery code 8442 were reported. also, check engine light on, found code p3791/engine won't start. reprogrammed ecu dp0199. cars shutting down in high speed traffic is a crash waiting to happen. we're not convinced that re-setting the engine code is enough to fix the problem. has the original software problem been located and fixed? dealership couldn't give us that answer.*ak

Dt: while driving about 40 mph suddenly car died. no power whatsoever. had to be towed to dealership. was told computer needed updating. this was performed on the vehicle. did call toyota, and confirmed that the repair had been done. no problems since computer was updated. *ak

Dt:.how long and at what speed was the consumer driving before the vehicle lost power? had driven about 10 minutes on commuting home was driving at least 50-60 mph. b.was the consumer accelerating, decelerating, or driving at a steady- state when the vehicle lost power?driving at a steady state. c. vehicle lost power, was the driver able to continue driving the vehicle? if so, how long and at what speed?not able to continue driving, could not restart vehicle. did any warning lights appear before and/or after the incident occurred? an odd beep and then some symbols illuminated on control panel but can't remember what symbol, thinks it make have been a car with an x through it. referred to owners manual. called for help. . came to a complete stop just seconds after the beep and warning lights. f was unable to restart vehicle. g. no restart whatsoever. h. was the vehicle towed? yes to a dealer. i.what did the dealer say was wrong with the vehicle? diagnosis code did not have available, but was aware of service bulletin pertaining to this issue. questioned why there had not been a recall. j. did the dealer reprogram the ecu (electronic control unit) or any software? yes-the ecu. k.did have recall on navigation software update prior to this episode. l. has the vehicle had any problems since the repair? no but fearful it may happen again. *ak

Dt: while driving on dry pavement at 35 mph the vehicle stalled. the consumer pulled off to the median. there were lights flashing in dashboard, the driver noticed that the warning codes included do not drive, and no brakes, etc. just before stalling, the warning codes came on, including no brakes, do not drive, all hazards, the explanation pointed to a triangle and all precautionary safety warning lights appeared. once the vehicle was stopped at a median there was no response from the car, it was totally dead. after the lights came on, no acceleration, there was no engine sound to the owner's knowledge. there was no obvious loss of power steering as far as the owner knew, it was not extremely difficult to get to the median. the vehicle was not able to be restarted. the owner tried to start the vehicle twice. at this point, the owner didn't know if the lights stayed on, but the hazards lights were working as she left to go call for help. at the dealership, the vehicle was jumped to get it off the tow truck. this occurred about 45 minutes. the dealer stated they had no idea what could be wrong with the vehicle, and this seemed to be a new occurrence to the dealership. *ak *sc *jb

Prius stalled while driving, all lights came on dealer restarted computer i have read about many people with this complaint

Engine warning light came on while driving approximately 55-60 mph. gas power quit and consumed all electric power and car stopped. coasted to the side of the road. could not get the car to go into any gear -- stuck in park. had to have it towed to dealer.

While driving 35 mph the dashboard lights flashed and the vehicle shut off. dealer stated the vehicle's software needed to be updated. *ak the problem has not recurred. *bf *nm

My1994 toyota prius suddenly stalled as i was driving. i had to be towed to a dealership. i was told that there was a programming error in one of the computer chips.

My 2004 prius lost power when i was traveling at about 65-70 miles per hour on 2/21/05. i had electric power for a few minutes so that i could pull off at an exit. all the warning/caution lights came on. the kern toyota dealership in winchester va had my car towed in. they kept the car overnight. they said that they reprogrammed my computer and the car was fine. they offered no other explanation or possible future concerns. i reported this to toyota management this morning and have a confirmation # if needed. i just saw the articles where they noted 33 other incidents like mine.

I have had 3 'stalls' of my 2004 prius which i drive 150 miles a day and it has 48k miles on it. all of the engine stalls have been at low speed (under 20 mph) and have been preceeded by a red warning triangle light and the screen displaying something like 'critical problem'. on one incident i was in heavy traffic and managed to use the electric motor to get me to the side of the highway before the engine/motor stopped with no power. when i turned the power on/off several times the engine would start but there was no power. i did notice that on all three stalls my gas gauge was low (one or two bars) but i have run the car for thirty miles after the last bar started to flash so it's hard to tell if there is a connection. i did report this to the dealer but they had no information on it and the car reset each time after a period of time.

Have a 2004 toyota prius. less than 40,000 miles on the car. was driving on the freeway and it suddenly died for no reason. toyota dealer said it was a computer malfunction and could not guarentee it would not happen again. very upset about this as it is a new car i paid a lot of money for

The consumer started the vehicle and noticed that the steering was very difficult. after driving for two blocks, the dash light had come on and the steering had become easier. the general warning symbol had come on, which meant the vehicle needed to be taken to the dealer. the brake light had been continuously on. when the emergency brakes were applied, the vehicle did not behave as if it were activated. the ignition relay was replaced per warning light. *ak *jb

The car stalled while coming to a stop at a traffic lite. warnings lights on included: vsc,engine warning lite. car restarted and went about 500 ft. going about 35 mph and stalled again. coasted to berm, called dealer, who said it was driveable to dealership. started out on i295, went up to 48 mph and engine stopped. coasted to side of road and was towed to dealer. dealer kept car over a wk, said since battery was dead, chip had no info. they found nothing wrong with the car and returned it to me.

Dt: engine shuts down and will not start, also battery dies. check engine light comes on, and then the engine dies. caller had to push car off the road. dealer said they could not find anything wrong the first time, and the other times they replaced a floor harness that went to battery, an amplifier, the original battery. caller read article on his vehicle about same problem. manufacturer said the amplifier fixed the problem.

I own a 2004 prius. while driving approx. 60 mph on hwy 110 in los angeles, the warning light came on. less than 5 seconds later, the car lost all power. it even ceased to coast despite the fact that i was on a significant down hill grade. in an attempt to exit the freeway, i navigated the vehicle to the right, where it stalled completely in the right lane, blocking moving traffic. the california highway patrol (chp) quickly came (they were in the area and arrived without being called) and pushed the vehicle off the freeway. after waiting about 20 minutes, the car restarted and i drove for about 10 miles on surface streets. the next morning, i was able to drive one mile to the dealer. the service department of toyota of hollywood, where i purchased the vehicle, said it was due to a "software glitch" and that it needed to be "reprogrammed." they completed this work in less than 24 hours. they also replaced the bumper which had been damaged by chp in the process of pushing the vehicle off the freeway. their service was excellent and i have not had subsequent failures. nevertheless, it was a serious malfunction and should be thoroughly investigated.

2004 prius driving at approximately 35-45 mph when warning lights on dashboard went on. car died within seconds in middle of busy street and would not restart, had to tow to dealer. dealer claimed they did not know what the problem was but said "it will not happen again"