Problems with 2005 Toyota Prius FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE

Driving north on i75 at approximately 65 mph. the gas gauge had 3 bars illuminated. the vsc warning light and the red triangle with the exclamation point came on. i lost the ability to accelerate and the car suddenly went dead. luckily i was able to make to relative safety on the side to interstate. the car was towed to a dealer who said the car ran out gas! they also said that the "fuel register unit was operating as designed." how was that possible? the charge? over $1200! according to toyota corporate and the dealership, repeated unsuccessful attempts to start the car will, by design, cause irreparable damage to the ecu code id box which can cost $1200 - $1800 to replace. this "design" is apparently in the name of anti-theft protection. (why not just immobilize the car instead of partial self-destruction?) even given the high extent and documented history of gas gauge display malfunctions and many other related electrical problems, toyota corporate would offer no financial assistance, no reimbursement of any portion of the repair. this is the second time the car has lost all power in the middle of heavy traffic. that time, 08/09/10, the water pump failed. subsequent to that, i received a recall notice to replace the water pump.

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. the contact stated when the vehicle stalled all of the warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. the contact stated the dealer reprogrammed the computer, but the vehicle only functioned normally for one month. the contact stated the failure was being diagnosed by the dealer for one week. the fuel pressure was also being checked to see if it met specifications. the failure mileage was unknown, but the current mileage was 75,500.

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. the contact stated that while he was adding fuel to his vehicle, the gasoline pump clicked notifying that the vehicle was full; however, when he removed the pump from the vehicle gasoline started flowing onto the ground. the failure and current mileages were 56340.

Over the past several i've noticed at least twice that after filling up my car with gasoline that the gauge reflecting gasoline status does not reset correctly, e.g., it tank was half full, filling up does not cause it to reset to "full". i suspect that this is due to some type of electronics error. in over 50 years of driving i've never had a car that didn't correctly reset to "full" upon "filling up". last incident date was in february 2010. prior occasion was approximately 5-6 months earlier. *tr

About 2 years ago, on route 840 in utica, i floored the gas pedal on my 2005 toyota prius to pass a car. the prius does not have a lot of power, so flooring it was sometimes necessary to pass uphill. when i took my foot off the gas pedal, the car was still accelerating. i touched the brakes. nothing. finally, i pushed down hard on the brakes and got the car to the side of the road and turned it off. i have rubber mats. i thought one of them had gone under the pedal. "case solved" so i thought. last december, again passing a truck uphill on route 840, i floored the pruis gas pedal. the same thing happened! this time i knew it was not the mat because i had drilled holes in it and attached it to the mat posts. it was inches away from the gas pedal when this happened. i pushed the brakes down hard and struggled the car to the side of the road right before the lanes merged and the truck would have cut me off (into a swamp). the brakes, with a burning smell, fought the racing car. i finally got it turned off. when i turned it back on, the gas was still racing! i turned it off again. after waiting,it started normally. it has done it every time the pedal was floored(seldom). i went to the internet and found this had been a problem and toyota was planning a prius recall, with parts to repair available in april. i was very scared to drive the car, but can't afford to sell it (wrong) or buy another. so i decided to wait for the recall. i have been driving on pins and needles since. and now there is no recall for the prius gas pedal! i'm glad for the brake recall because my prius has done that once too, but freaked out about no sticking gas pedal recall for the prius. i went to the dealer today for 115,000k service and told them about this. "technician can not replicate problem". just like so many stories from other toyota owners on the web. this will be many a prius driver's epitaph without government action. please make toyota fix these sticking prius accelerators *cn

I was driving to work and with 3 bars of fuel showing on the fuel gauge, the gas engine stopped and i continued to a safe street to park with the electric motor (which has about a 1 mile range). i had the vehicle towed to the nearest toyota dealer. there inspection revealed multiple failure codes but that it basically ran out of gas. they reset/recalibrated the ecms and i picked up the car 2 days later. i contacted toyota about this issue and they denied any responsibility and advised that i should not run below 25% of the tanks capacity. the 2010 prius uses a rigid gas tank versus the flexible gas tank in my vehicle (i believe they know it is a problem but are doing nothing but advise people to not go below 25% fuel capacity. since the tank may be from 10 to 11.9 gallons this is not that clear). the toyota case number is 0910135219 which is already closed (denied). *tr

After only 40,000 miles, fuel injectors have to be replaced... $1,000.00. *tr

Our 2005 prius developed a massive gasoline leak, which made it an obvious fire hazard. we drove it home, and the car was towed to the dealer, where they found that the car's plastic fuel lines that had been damaged by rodents. the fuel lines were replaced by new plastic ones. however, we live in the country, where squirrels and mice abound, so this dangerous problem will probably happen again. there are no metal fuel lines available for this vehicle; we consider these plastic, exposed fuel lines a safety hazard. *jb

Dt*: the manufacturer was consulted and determined the fuel tank was operating properly. updated 6/27/2006 - the fuel tank in the consumer's vehicle is flexible. each time the consumer fills the vehicle, the tank accepts 2-4 gallons less than designed. if the consumer slow the fuel pump to allow the additional gallons in the stop mechanism does not activate causing the fuel tank to overflow. the consumer receives 100-150 miles less per gallon. *nm

Gasoline pump regularly shuts off several gallons short of full and will not allow continued filling without removing the nozzle from beyond the rubber seal. the only way to know when the tank is full is to watch and listen. often when the tank approaches full and the nozzle is shut off the gas overflows from the tank spilling a cup or perhaps more of gas. *ak

Monitored the fuel gauge on the dashboard of 2005, toyota prius in order to know when was running low on fuel. has been keeping a log of fuel consumption, mpg and miles driven. typically, ihe filled up the tank when the display showed only 2 or 3 bars remaining out of 10 bars when full. based on the cars 11.9 gallon capacity each bar should indicate approximately 1.19 gallons of fuel. in the past it has taken 7-8 gallons to fill up the tank when the display got down to 2 or 3 bars. however, there have been several occasions where it has only taken 4.5 gallons to fill it up. also there were 4 instances when attempting to fill tank up after the display showed 2 bars remaining, and it only allowed me to pump 3 gallons of fuel before the pump shut off. as much as i tried could not get any more fuel to go into the tank. when i started the car it only showed 6 bars on the display. i drove around the block and pulled into the service station again and attempted to put in more fuel. it only took about .2 of a gallon, but this time the display showed 10 bars. it seemed obvious that something was wrong with the fuel tank sensor system. a fuel gauge should provide an accurate indication of the number of gallons of fuel remaining.*ak

The gas "bladder" on my 2005 toyota prius will not expand correctly. this limits the total amount of fuel that can be put into the car to as little as 7 gal. in cold weather. the rated volume is 11.4 gal. *tr

The prius shut down, stopped using gasoline power, while i was in the passing lane and traveling 70 miles per hour in moderate traffic on interstate 40 in nashville, tn. the red triangle, check engine, vsc and a few other warning signals illuminated. i managed to avoid being rear-ended , pulled to the side of the road using battery power, shut the battery power off, and consulted the owner's manual. approximately 10-15 minutes prior, the add fuel light illuminated and the fuel indicator displayed a single bar. having driven the vehicle for the past 8300 miles, my wife informed me that we had about 2 gallons of gas, and could easily travel another fifty miles. the temperature was near 90 degrees. i started the vehicle and chose to drive it off the interstate. we traveled 2.5 miles and coasted to the side of the road as the battery depleted. i managed to slowly drive the vehicle to a gas station and refueled. the fuel tank could only accommodate 8.1 gallons of fuel; it holds 11.7. once refueled, the warning signals disappeared after 30 seconds, and we drove home. my wife took the car to the dealer, joe heitz toyota in clarksville, tn, the next day for an evaluation. the mechanic said that the computer indicated that the vehicle ran out of fuel. since there obviously was fuel in the tank, i pressed the service manager for answers. by the end of the day and after consulting with prius technical folks in california, the service manager said that the fuel bladder may have collapsed over the sending module thereby signaling the car's computer that it was out of gas, which caused it to shut down. he said toyota is looking into the problem and provided a lame solution; refuel the vehicle before it gets too low. this is an unacceptable answer and i implore the nhtsa to investigate this potentially deadly anomaly. it is only a matter of time before someone is in a fatal accident because the vehicle shuts down while traveling at interstate speeds.

The vehicle's gas needle indicated that the tank was half full. when the consumer attempted to refuel the vehicle, the pump shut off after only depositing 1.1 gallons of fuel into the tank. *nm the consumer stopped a second time to try to fill the fuel tank and inserted the pump into the tank. after the attempt to fill the tank, the consumer removed the pump from the tank and fuel shot out of the tank all over the consumer. the fuel gauge still showed half of a tank. the consumer was told that the part needed would be a couple weeks and was forced to drive the vehicle. after driving the vehicle the consumer noticed that fuel gauge still in the same place. the dealer fixed the problem stating that water somehow got into the fuel cut off valve and caused the vehicle not to accept fuel. in driving home the consumer stopped again to get fuel and the same problem occurred. *tc *jb