Problems with 2005 Toyota Prius ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

Failure of engine throttle controls: sudden rapid acceleration, un-commanded, which terminated quickly after applying the brakes.

We were driving on the highway at night and suddenly, without warning, the engine stalled completely, the car died, and all of the warning lights came on, including a red triangle, check engine, brake, and some others. the prius lost power and i had to turn on the hazard lights and coast to the shoulder. we called the aaa towing service and 911 (as the shoulder was very narrow and we could not get out of the car). the officer and the tow truck driver checked for all possible driver errors, including gas, but did not find anything out of the ordinary (the gas gauge showed 5/8 full). the car was towed to the toyota dealership in sunnyvale who are working to determine the cause. this was a very dangerous situation as we were driving on a highway, with a child in the car, at highway speeds at night and the car suddenly died. it has left us shaken and we will be contacting toyota to see if they have a fix for this. *tr

I was driving on the highway when my vehicle's check engine light came on. shortly after i saw a large amount of smoke coming from the engine. i pulled over and shut off the car. car smelled like burned plastic and smoke. i was worried that the car could catch on fire or blow up! i had the car towed to my nearest toyota dealership.toyota claimed that the three way coolant control valve had failed and the steam came from a ruptured line in the coolant system. the job cost me $422.32. i didn't mind paying the service but after careful research into the problem with the 3-way control valve on the prius i had learned that this is a wide spread problem.apparently the valve tends to stick causing no flow of the coolant fluid. i feel toyota should fix this problem before someone gets hurt either by getting burned from a ruptured line or the car catches on fire. *tr

Engine shut off at approximately 8500 feet above sea level (carson pass, highway 88). driving approximately 35-40mph. clear day 70 degrees. no warning light for overheating, but aux fan turned on in rear seat.. towed car approximately 50 miles to carson city. inspected by toyota dealer in consultation with toyota service consultants. replaced hybrid control ecu. no charge to me and toyota reimbursed for 2 days expenses. trip home , aux fan turned on at 8500 feet remained on until approx. 7000 feet elevation. consulted toyota, referred me to toyota dealer near home. they consulted with toyota hq. hq recommend another test costing $500. dealer could find no fault. i asked toyota for reimbursement of $500 and to investigate engine shut off as a potentially very dangerous situation.toyota referred me back to local dealer. maintenance manager there told me they had already performed tests:nothing more to be done. have not heard back from toyota about reimbursement or further evaluation of the problem. *tr

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. while driving approximately 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. the vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was awaiting diagnostic testing to determine the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was unavailable. the approximate failure mileage was 164,000.

Engine shut down while entering highway. charged for ecm update when problem has been known. cnn reported, "a software problem is causing some toyota prius gas-electric hybrid cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds." a toyota press release states: "toyota motor sales (tms), u.s.a., inc., will launch a special service campaign involving certain 2004 and early 2005 model year prius sold in the u.s. on the involved vehicles, an issue with the program logic in the electronic control module (ecm) system may cause some or all of the following warning lights to illuminate: master, hybrid system, engine, vehicle stability control, and brake. if this occurs, the vehicle will enter a "fail-safe" mode which allows limited operation via the electric motor. however, the electrically-powered brake and steering operation will continue to function normally if this condition occurs. the electric motor will also provide enough power to allow the driver to pull the vehicle over and away from traffic. once the vehicle is stopped, the driver may be able to restart the gasoline engine in the vehicle by pushing the start button. approximately 75,000 2004 and 2005 model year prius vehicles may be affected by this condition. toyota is proactively conducting a campaign in the interest of its customers." *tr

Incident = on 1/19/11 my 2005 prius began to shake while driving on surface streets. i pulled over checked the car but saw nothing that would cause the shaking. i then started the car and began to drive. the shaking started again like an unbalanced washer. i took the car to hollywood toyota. toyota checked the car and indicated that 2 spark plugs had gone bad and that 2 ignition coils had shorted out. as a result the engine had carbon deposits and needed extensive cleaning. i have done all scheduled maintenance to toyota specification. as a result i contacted toyota's offices to voice safety concerns. were there any other similar reported incidents and do they consider any safety issues. didn't get a clear answer at all from them. toyota once again is in denial with prius problems. damage resulting = cost was $989.81. i feel that toyota needs to reimburse me for these repairs. had this happened on the freeway results could have been different. i complained to toyota and they have offered me $348.10 off the total work. its not just a money issue its a safety issue as well. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. the contact was driving approximately 25-30 mph when the vehicle began to shake abnormally violent. the contact inspected the vehicle but could not locate a cause for the failure yet the failure persisted. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was advised that two spark plugs had failed, two of the ignition coils had shorted out and that carbon was built up on the engine as a result of the failure. the dealer replaced the spark plugs, ignition coils and cleaned the carbon from the engine. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was 78,646 and the current mileage was 78,746. updated 03/02/11 *bf

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. while driving 65 mph the vehicle suddenly shut off. the vehicle was towed to the contacts residence. the contact called the manufacturer who advised him to take it to the dealership for diagnostic testing. the vehicle was not inspected or repaired. the current and failure mileages were approximately 187,000.

2005 toyota prius stalled on an overpass with no shoulders. the transmission became stuck in park, and the vehicle could not be pushed since the front wheels were locked up. the car was eventually towed, and it had to be dragged onto the flatbed wrecker since the front wheels would not roll. the problem was determined to be a failed pump for cooling the inverter. the pump failed such that it blew a fuse that also controlled the transmission shifter, preventing the car from being put into neutral so that it could be pushed out of traffic lanes. this is a very unsafe failure mode. *tr

2005 prius stalling problem!! i never received any notification on this issue. as the article said"toyota motor sales (tms), u.s.a., inc., will launch a special service campaign involving certain 2004 and early 2005 model year prius sold in the u.s. on the involved vehicles, an issue with the program logic in the electronic control module (ecm) system may cause some or all of the following warning lights to illuminate: master, hybrid system, engine, vehicle stability control, and brake. if this occurs, the vehicle will enter a "fail-safe" mode which allows limited operation via the electric motor. however, the electrically-powered brake and steering operation will continue to function normally if this condition occurs. the electric motor will also provide enough power to allow the driver to pull the vehicle over and away from traffic. once the vehicle is stopped, the driver may be able to restart the gasoline engine in the vehicle by pushing the start button.toyota is proactively conducting a campaign in the interest of its customers. toyota will inform owners of the involved vehicles with a special service campaign notification letter sent via first class mail beginning in late-october. owners are requested to contact their local toyota dealer for diagnosis and repair upon receiving their notification. toyota will reprogram the ecm system at no charge to the owners of the vehicle." nhtsa action number : pe05029 nhtsa recall campaign number : n/a component : engine and engine cooling engine and engine cooling:engine unknown or other my car have this same issue while i was on a freeway. i called toyota dealership and was told that i would have to pays around $100 to get analysis. what can i do to get toyota to correct this when they never sent me a notice for this problem. i bought this car brand new from toyota around summer of 2005. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. the contact stated that the inverter cooling water pump failed. while driving 72 mph with the vehicle speed control engaged, there were several warning lights illuminating causing the vehicle speed control to lose power. he drove onto the side of the road, turned the engine off and allowed the vehicle to cool down and it began to function normally. the contact was able to restart the vehicle and drive safely to his residence. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed the failure as the water pump which listed error code p0a93. the vehicle was not repaired since the parts were on back order until september 16, 2010. he then contacted the dealer and manufacturer who also informed him that the parts were on critical back order until september 16, 2010. the failure mileage was 41,000.

2005 toyota prius. consumer states problem with vehicle overheating *tgw it was determined the water pump was defective and needed to replaced. *jb

I'm writing about an defective inverter cooling pump in my 2005 toyota prius. i was driving when all of a sudden my car loses the ability to accelerate. numerous warning lights came on as i coasted to a stop in a nearby neighborhood. the car would not shut off at first. after i finally got the car to turn off, it would not turn on again. the display in the center of the dashboard would come on fine, but when it came time for the main engine to turn on (when pushing the start button), it would blink and shut off immediately. when i took a look under the hood, i could smell something electrical burning. i finally got the car towed to a local shop that was toyota/lexus certified. they figured out that the inverter cooling pump was defective and it was blowing fuses (hence the smell of something electrical burning). total cost was almost $500 for the repair: parts and labor. i tried calling toyota to see if i could get any type of reimbursement, but i got many reasons why i should not get one: - the warranty was for 60,000 or 8 years. i was in the 8 years, the mileage was 62,000. (i guess customer service does not mean much - previously i own a 94 toyota corolla - 16 years with a toyota car) - i did not get it repaired at a toyota "dealership" (even though they were "toyota" certified) - i did not buy the car new. (so if you buy a used toyota, apparently that does not make the car a toyota anymore.) bottom line, after being fixed the car runs even better then before the inverter cooling pump failure: better gas mileage and no more phantom steering wheel movements when driving on the highway (happened when the engine would switch over to battery and vice versa). *tr

I drive a 2005 toyota prius. my car has 26,000 miles on it; which is very low mileages. while i was on the highway, my car`s lights on the dashboard starts to flash. the brake system warning light and buzzer comes on along with the abs warning light and the malfunction indicator lamp. i had nowhere to pull aside. after two minutes the warning signs shut off so i kept driving. five minutes later, all the warning lights come on so i decide to get off the highway to take it to the knoxville toyota dealer. as i`m exiting the highway, i immediately realized that i had no breaks (when i pressed the brake pedal with my foot it automatically touched the ground)! i remembered that my dad always told me that in case of a brake emergency to pump the paddle until the breaks work. i almost crashed into another car; the exit ramp was very steep. i was going about 50 miles per hr by then; luckily i managed to stop while i kept pumping my breaks. i took it to the dealer right away. they checked my car and replaced: pump assy. water, super long life c, inverter coolant pump, sliding yoke, reflashed engine and hv ecu and shaft kit. steeri. i found my case very dangerous and my life was at risk. not only was my life at risk but as well as other individuals. i would hate for this to happen to someone else! it was scary and i felt like my life might have been over. *tr

2005 toyota prius stalled while driving and in motion. i own a 2005 toyota prius that i had just driven on highway about 25 miles and then was on local road. the vehicle stalled without any warning and all lights came on. the car was not responsive to gas and engine was shut. so i had to pull over. the car will not start and had to be towed to the dealer. fortunately, it was during off peak time and i was on local road. if it had been during peak time and on highway, the consequences would have been significantly different. the dealer had no technical details as to why this happened. he said it was software issue. *tr

I have a 2005 toyota prius with 255k miles. i service my car regularly (about every 5 weeks). when i started my car after work, none of the dashboard lights came on. i put my car in drive and the car moved forward. i drove my car about 60 miles and stopped by the store. i became alarmed when the car wouldn't shut off. i pressed the "power" button several times but the car would not turn off. i drove the car to the stafford toyota at approximately 7:30pm and requested assistance from the sales manager (since the service department was closed). the sales manager confirmed that the car was not supposed to operate without the dashboard lights because there was no way to determine if the car was on and whether the car was in park, reverse or drive. after numerous attempts of holding down the "power" button, the car finally shut off. when i restarted it, the lights still did not work. *tr

I am writing about an incident with my 2005 toyota prius. on july 20, 2009 as my wife was driving our prius the engine light went on. she immediately drove into the parking lot of a small business and stopped the car. we had it towed to a repair shop. the mechanics there diagnosed the problem. the inverter pump that supplies coolant to all the engine parts had malfunctioned. the mechanics told us that the toyota company was aware that this problem could occur on our 05 prius. if we had the car towed to a toyota dealer the defective inverter pump would be replaced with a more recent model free of charge. the next day we had the car towed to the dealership. they examined the car and verified that the problem was a defective inverter pump. their codes as printed on their invoice number 524093 [21 july 2009] are "34352 pulled code poa93, sub code 346-inverter cooling system performance. found tsb eg001-07 to correct this concern. replaced inverter water pump as per stb." this catastrophic malfunction occurred without any prior warning. we have maintained the car with regular maintenance as per the schedule in the owners manual. we were very lucky that the malfunction occurred while we were in town. since we live in new mexico the malfunction could have occurred out in one of our deserts or on one of our mountains. we are both 73 years of age and both cancer survivors. the last thing that we needed was to be stranded somewhere or to have the engine completely destroyed if we were not able to immediately stop the car. i do hope that toyota will be required to perform a recall on the prius models that have this type if inverter pump so that owners can continue to drive their cars safely. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota prius. while driving 55 mph the mass air flow sensor failed causing the vehicle to shut off. the contact towed the vehicle to the dealer to have the mass air flow sensor replaced. the abs warning lights also flashed on the dash board causing the brakes to fail while driving 40 mph. the contact drove the vehicle to the dealer to have the abs brake actuator replaced. the failure mileage was 18,461. updated 11/10/10 *bf updated 11/18/10

Fire and total loss of 2005 toyota prius, 19,300 miles after returning from work, the vehicle was parked as usual with engine power cut in the owner's driveway. a few minutes later, smoke was noticed inside the car with flames showing from underneath the vehicle. the fire department extinguished the fire about 10 minutes after it was first noticed. the main damage is in the rear left (driver's side) of the vehicle, with the cargo compartment completely destroyed, tire completely melted, all plastic in the area melted, door blackened, the rear bench destroyed, the ceiling carpet destroyed and big heat marks on the roof of the car. the vehicle was not modified as a "plug-in hybrid" which have been reported in at least one incident of fire. the external temperature was moderate, around 70-75 degrees. *tr updated 06/05/09*jb

My daughter was driving the family car a 2005 toyota prius on a nj county road on a low traffic sunday morning in april 2009. the car unexpectedly surged causing her to loose control, hit a telephone pole and cause property and physical damage. *tr

The engine shut down without warning in the middle of a busy street, creating an unsafe situation with cars coming up behind in a single lane. *tr

60 k inspection by state licensed service- toyota. at 62k water pump had to be replaced by toyota dealer, would not recognize previous inspection (not a dealer).dealer failed to burp engine causing air in system. personally added antifreeze. 2) headlight are now locked in the lower elevation causing the dims to be approx 30 feet in front of vehicle. outrun lighted area very rapidly. believe to be a very dangerous situation 3)smart key (s) quit at same time. 4) second set tires needing replacement just over 25k miles 5) at times the engine battery just goes dead. all happened just over 60k miles. dealer will look at items for a service charge and if problems the service charge will be deducted from cost. i was informed that none of the items are under warranty because the vehicle is past the 60k. it is apparent that the water pump condition happened prior to the 60k by the build up of antifreeze on old pump which i plan on sending to toyota. *tr

Dt*: the contact stated while driving 65 mph under normal road conditions, the vehicle stalled. there were no warnings prior to the failure. the vehicle was taken to the service dealer, who was not able to identify the problem. updated 12/18/2006 -*nm

2005 prius stalled at 70 mph on highway, could not restart, had to be towed 150 miles to dealership. *nm

Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle stalled on two separate occasions. the first time it occurred was on april 7th while driving at a steady speed of 25mph. the second time it occurred was on april 21st while driving at a steady speed of 5-15 mph. all the warning lights illuminated and the vehicle was pulled over. once pulled over, the vehicle would not go back into the drive position. afterwards, it stalled and would not restart. the stalling occurred 3-5 minutes after it was pulled over. the vehicle was towed to the dealership both times. the first time the dealer replaced the entire transmission. the second time the dealer replaced the inverter. on april 23rd while driving the dash board lights became inoperable including the speedometer, and the gear indicator. the contact alerted the dealership by phone who explained the problem was likely the circuit board and it was okay to continue driving the vehicle. afterwards, the vehicle began to blow out hot and cold air and the dealership was alerted again which explained it was okay to continue driving. shortly after it began to rain, the wipers were turned on, and the dash lights became inoperable once again. the vehicle is scheduled for inspection on monday may 8th.

I was involved in an accident with my 2005 prius on 3/29/2006. the cause of the accident remains a mystery. i was sitting at an intersection, waiting for traffic to clear. witnesses reported that i pulled out into the oncoming traffic, resulting in a collision with another vehicle. due to the injuries i suffered (a minor concussion resulting in retrograde amnesia), i had no recollection of the period prior to arriving at the intersection up until the paramedics removed me from the vehicle. as such, i can't explain exactly what happened. while i have no proof of this, it seems that a possibility would be an issue with the stuck accelerator that's being reported relating to the prius. i've been at a loss to explain why i would have pulled out in front of oncoming traffic at an intersection that i was very familiar with. when i heard of the acceleration issues with the prius, i wondered if that could have been the cause. since the vehicle was totaled, it's no longer available for inspection. i thought i'd submit this report to add to the suspected cases of accelerator issues. *tr

2005 toyota prius: in slippery conditions, when a front wheel slips, both wheels stop rotating and then the wheel that did not slip is given power. this takes about 1 second. during that time the motor has shut down, losing substantial forward momentum. if the second wheel slips,the process is repeated giving the original wheel power. the 1 second time interval occurs again and more forward momentum is lost. on a slippery hill, this basically stops the forward motion of the auto very quickly. if both wheels continue to slip,the auto just sits there , with the electric motor starting and stopping as the power is switched between front wheels. if there are cars behind yours, then backing up is impossible. if the wife and kids are in a bad neighbor hood and this happens,that could mean real trouble. the condition is totally unacceptable. all the prius' should be recalled and the traction control reprogrammed to allow reduced power to the slipping wheel, not zero power. this will tend to maintain forward momentum and keep the motor from shutting down. i spoke to the original dealer and they claimed no knowledge of the design flaw. *nm

2005 toyota prius went into a sudden engine stalling mode. i do realize that toyota has a recall on such vehicles, but the toyota dealership that i took it to, the same place where i bought the vehicle, that had a "prius expert" has been diagnosing this problem for a day with no answers / anticipated fix date. this is annoying to say the least, as toyota does not seem to have taken the time to train it's dealerships on their own recall information. i could steer and operate the vehicle in electric only mode. pressing the power key would not power off the car. hence the battery started to drain. opening the passenger door and pressing the power key, seemed to have been able to stop the car, not sure whether this was timing, or some coincidence. starting the car again, made the gasoline engine come on for the purpose of replenishing the charge for the battery, with the dash still displaying the same issues. also, pressing the accelerator again, does not raise the rpm of the gasoline engine. its stalling continues after a power cycle. *ak

I took my prius in for recall, noted in pe05029, on or about december 9, 2005. i had no problems with the prius before the recall but did the recall because of the problems others were having. i had 25,000 miles with no problems before i took the car to toyota to do the recall. since then on two occasions, on or about january 14, 2006 and on or about january 16, 2006, i have had the engine start to rev up while at a stop light with my foot on the brake. i drive using only one foot so the gas pedal did not have anything. the engine seemed to rev to about 2000 rpms. this is an estimate on my own part from the sound and not a measurement. on the first occasion i turned off the climate control as i was proceeding to shut down the car and the engine returned to normal idle and then turned off as it normally would at a stop light. i left the climate control off and continued to drive when the light turned green and had no more problems that day. on the second occasion i eased up slightly on the brake pedal to see if the engine was actually propelling the car forward and the car moved forward but no stronger than it normally does with the electric motor. so, the engine although revving up seemed to be disconnected from the drive train. i believe i noticed on both occasions that the battery was fully charges with no white space at the top as usual. probably because the engine runs more anyway since the recall as can be noted by the loss in fuel economy. i reported it to the dealers service representative that i took the car in for recall and was told that unless it was a repeatable problem they probably would not be able to find anything. i requested that he report it to toyota anyway. *nm

I took my toyota prius in for the recall noted in pe05029 and since have lost 8 miles per gallon in performance. i contacted toyota customer service to let them know and asked if they could tell me if other customers were experiencing the same problem. the reply was that customer service information is proprietary and that they would record my complaint but could give me no further information. i am not sure the car would still meet the epa mileage rating originally given. *nm

I was driving on highway at 70 mph and vehicle stalled. i coasted over to road shoulder, turned off vehicle power and restarted vehicle without issue. called toyota dealer and was told my vin was not part of the software recall for software problem for stalling engines. this could have caused a serious problem if i was not in the right lane and able to move to shoulder, clearing traffic immediately. *jb

Engine stalls. *jb

Toyota prius; driving on interstate 287 in new jersey when the engine cut out and would not restart. *nm

Possibly relevant to current prius software reliability investigation number : pe05029 i spoke to gilles labelle of westboro toyota in westborough massachusetts regarding the toyota prius (this was a pre-sales conversation; i do not at present own a prius though until this conversation i was very close buying one; now i find myself taking a step back to ensure i've done my own due diligence). he mentioned the use of a reset sequence to "reboot" the car in the event of problems as a way to avoid the need to have the car serviced; i asked him how often he had to reboot his own prius; he didn't answer directly but instead said that he had helped about 100 customers through the reboot process. i am a operating systems software engineer by profession and was alarmed at this "just hit reset" attitude towards systems failures; ideally crashes in the field should be rare enough that each one can be root-caused, rather than shrugged off. *jb

Traveling on nj turnpike in heavy traffic when new 2005 prius lost power and would not respond to attempts at acceleration to keep up with traffic. was able to move over 2 lanes of traffic and stop on side of highway. turned off car and restarted after less than a minute. no further incidents since. took car to toyota dealership. they could find no reason for the failure after monitoring the computer. *nm

I was driving my toyota prius on the freeway and the vehicle died at 55 mph. the engine light illuminated and there was no power to the accelerator. fortunately, traffic was light and i was able to coast to a secure spot on the side of the road. this happened on the approach to the bay bridge, which would have been a potential disaster had it died on the bridge itself. the car did not start again on my first attempt, but it did start 5 minutes later. i took the car to the toyota dealer and they said they installed new information into the computer. i want to know why, if they know it needs new information, did i not receive a letter asking me to come in for service? this could have been really disastrous, and i fear that it will be for someone else. *jb

Purchased 2005 toyota prius - vin # jtd kb2 ou1 530 793 29 on july 20, 2005 -registered it to my wife krista gottlieb. on july 22, 2005 when this car had about 80 miles on it, i was driving it on the highway in traffic at about 50 mph - when suddenly i lost complete power. by that, i mean that the accelerator pedal was completely unresponsive. i am not aware of what the instruments indicated as i was preoccupied with the traffic (for more details - i sent a very detailed e-mail about the failure to our dealer culligan toyota, amherst, ny on july 24, 2005 - i have also sent additional follow-up e-mails to culligan since that date. ). as a result of the july 24 message, i arranged to leave the car with culligan toyota service advisor stephen desotell on wednesday, july 27, 2005 to be checked out. at about 3:00 p.m. on july 27 stephen called me to tell me that they had checked out the car and could find nothing wrong with it in any way '' mechanical or computer or anything. he said that it had the latest software and that there were no outstanding service bulletins of recalls for the car and that in his discussion with toyota, it was suggested to him that i must have inadvertently hit the ''power'' button on the dashboard - or words to that effect. subsequently i tested the car and found that i could not turn off our prius by deliberately pushing or holding the power button in. by call to the above service advisor since then, he later confirmed that this was correct - that it was not possible to accidentally or deliberately shut any prius down by hitting the power button while the car was in motion under power. we have had no repeat of this event. however, the failure happened to us in heavy traffic when i was in the passing lane with traffic on my right and oncoming traffic on my left and a high-speed car approaching me from the rear - and i had nowhere to steer to! it was very frightening and we could have been hit from behind. *nm

2005 toyota prius, when coasting at high speeds, the engine cuts out so it is impossible to accelerate.

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.

Driving 65 mph on the freeway, the low-fuel indicator light started blinking. approximately 15 miles later, still driving 65 mph, the engine shut off. dashboard warning light and check engine light illuminated. "consumption" was highlighted in red. the car continued to drive in electric mode at 52 mph for about 1.5 miles. when the battery was drained, the car came to a stop. after 5 minutes, i hit the power button to turn off the car, then again to turn on the car. the engine started and we drove to the next gas station, 4 miles away. toyota (1-800-331-4331) said to take it to the dealer. the toyota dealer said there is nothing they can do and toyota has not advised them on a remedy. dealer refused to provide me with this agency's name (nhtsa). i left a message with "the prius team" at toyota 3 days ago and they have not returned my call.

I purchased a 2005 prius in january 2005. at the time of the incident it had about 8500 miles on it. it had been performing well and i had been getting excellent gas mileage and the internal mileage indicators has proven to be very accurate. while driving on sc highway 31 at about 60-65 miles per hour the gasoline engine quit slowing me to about 40 miles per hour. the dashboard lit up with with warning signals including the red triangle, check engine, vsc, breaking system and i don't remember what else. a few miles before this happened, my fuel indicator started to blink, but was sure that the problem could not be gas since i have often gone many miles before finding gas in similar situation and knew from past experience, my milege,and fuel usage indicator that i had about two gallons left in the vehicle. this was an unfamiliar road to me so i continued to travel using the battery hoping that an exit would appear. the battery quickly became so depleted that i pulled to the side of the road. i tried to turn the vehicle off and found it unresponsive. after a few tries it did power down. i called aaa for assistance. during my wait, i was able to restart the engine, but it again failed within a couple of miles, but i was able to reach an exit and pull off. after the second failure, i tried to restart again and this time only got the red triangle and check engine light. aaa did add gasoline to the car, but the fuel indicator continued to blink and the bar never rose. the car was towed to sparks toyota in myrtle beach, sc who called to say that they believe that the problem is low fuel. i do not believe that it the case as this had not happened before when the low fuel indicator came on.

Driving 2005 toyota prius (pov) in traffic when hybrid system suddenly and unexpectedly shut down. was unable to restart vehicle for approximately 5 mins. when was able to restart "check engine" warning light remained on. no property damage or injuries occured as a result of failure.

I was driving 20mph when a red alert light came on the screen on my prius; it said gps underneath it so i ignored it, thinking i would be ok since i did not need my gps system. i sped up to about 30mph and suddenly was not able to accelerate although i was pressing down on my accelerator. i came to a stop at the traffic light on a green; luckily there was no collision. the electric mode remained intact for the next 2.5hrs untli the car was towed so i could still turn the car on.

I have a 2005 toyota prius, purchased new in oct 2004. i was driving on i-57 in illinois at 65 mph. temperature outside was 91f. low fuel warning signal began to flash. since i planned to gas up about 25 miles away, i continued driving. should have had approximately 2 gallons of fuel left. about 5 minutes later at 65 mph, the engine suddenly stopped running. the "red triangle of death" and the yellow "check engine" warning lights came on. realized that the electric motor drive system was still working. noticed that i was approximately 1.5 miles from an exit. slowed to about 45 mph and continued to drive using the prius' batteries and electric motors. pulled into a shell station and turned the car off. began to refuel. after about 4 gallons, the pump clicked off. tried again - it clicked off. tried again and was able to refuel normally. in all, i added 9.767 gallons. if the car has 11.9 gallon tank, there should have been 2.1 gallons left when the engine shut off. upon restart, same engine warning lights were on, but within a few seconds they went off. digital fuel gauge increased, one block at a time, until it indicated full. car seemed to be operating normally. resumed 65 mph. car has continued to operate normally since. the shutting off of the engine was abrupt and would have been a safety problem had someone been following me too closely, or if i had needed full power to avoid traffic or an obstacle. had read about this happening to other prius owners and that some had reported not being able to restart the car. for that reason, i chose not to pull off on the shoulder and stop the car (for fear that i would not be able to restart it), and was fortunate to be able to drive with the electric motors to a nearby exit. have not yet taken the car to the dealer to have the problem corrected. have not had any parts replaced or software upgraded. would appreciate any advice or service information you may know of.

Dt: while driving 2005, toyota prius hybrid at speeds between 15-20 mph on a 2 lane road the engine died. after a short time it did restart. *ak

Dt: consumer states while driving her vehicle lost power. the vehicle was pulled off the road, after the vehicle was shut off, and it started back. the service department states the computer did not register the event, so they could not find anything wrong. the local service department said this was the first complaint they had received. *tt

The consumer had the vehicle for 2 weeks and had an episode where the engine stalled on the highway. the consumer believed it may have been caused by a momentary event to shift it incorrectly from the braking mode. when the consumer first attempted to put it in reverse, it wouldn't take then, and it would not take into the proper drive mode either. the engine had stalled, and would not go into drive. the consumer stopped the vehicle, and was able to restart it. the consumer had not experienced problems since then. the consumer called and reported the problem to toyota. *ak gasoline engine on hybrid vehicle failed to kick in or stalled. *sc *jb

I was traveling at about 70 mph on the interstate, when the engine stalled. i was close to an off-ramp and was able to coast off of the exit. at the bottom on the exit i was able to start up again by shifting into drive.