How Common Are These Faults In Uk?

[pipjon]

I am planning on buying a new Prius - for all the usual reasons - and found a US forum which seems to highlight some recurring faults. Not seeing any reference to them in this forum, I was wondering if they do, in fact, manifest themselves in the UK.

1) Several reports of car suddenly running away at about 50/60mph without foot on throttle and whilst trying to brake - somewhat alarming.

2) Difficult to estimate fuel and therefore distance left in tank, which is a bladder, and therefore capacity varies according to temperature.

3) This may be linked to 2) - mpg reading highly innacurate.

4) Excessive tyre wear, especially rear.

5) Failing to climb steeper than normal hills - possibly linked to wet surface.

6) Difficulties with dead 12v batteries, jump starting etc.

Any rubbishing of these, or indeed confirmation, greatly appreciated.

Regards

Jon

[lininjim]

I am planning on buying a new Prius - for all the usual reasons - and found a US forum which seems to highlight some recurring faults. Not seeing any reference to them in this forum, I was wondering if they do, in fact, manifest themselves in the UK.

1) Several reports of car suddenly running away at about 50/60mph without foot on throttle and whilst trying to brake - somewhat alarming.

2) Difficult to estimate fuel and therefore distance left in tank, which is a bladder, and therefore capacity varies according to temperature.

3) This may be linked to 2) - mpg reading highly innacurate.

4) Excessive tyre wear, especially rear.

5) Failing to climb steeper than normal hills - possibly linked to wet surface.

6) Difficulties with dead 12v batteries, jump starting etc.

Any rubbishing of these, or indeed confirmation, greatly appreciated.

Regards

Jon

1. Never happened to me, never heard it reported over here.

2. It beeps to tell you to add fuel. We don't have a bladder.

3. Does it matter? Whatever it reads, you go till you run out of fuel, or near enough, then refill it.

4 Nope.

5. Nope, no better or worse than any other car.

6. Nope. Still on the same Battery in my 54 reg, plenty people have older ones.

Get yourself on to Prius-UK@yahoogroups.com and get real answers there too.

[Chris Dance]

Never had any of those faults.

My son drives his Prius to the continent and back never a problem at all.

I do not think you need worry about any of the items you have mentioned. Buy your Prius and enjoy it.

Good Luck Chris.

[Habu]

1. never heard of that happening.

2. the gauge is fine and you get a beep when it's low. We don't have a bladder which is affected by temperature changes so is inaccurate

3. my manual checking of mpg is very similar to the cars estimate

4. tyre wear is fine and normal

5. I've, to prove a point, stopped on a 1:3 hill near Thirsk, and then pulled away very smoothly at 1mph ! If you then gas it she shifts up the hill.

6. not heard of any Battery issues.

Toyota's warranties are cast iron and most Centres are excellent at changing things under 'warranty'. My Centre, RMB Northallerton, changed all my brake discs at 10,000 miles as they were a 'bit pitted'. :)

One issue I do have though with the Prius is the very nannying traction control which you can't turn off. It's probably designed that way for our cousins across the pond. If you floor the throttle from a standstill, even on a dry road, the Prius just cuts the power. It doesn't back the power off - it just totally kills it. You're screwed if you're trying to pull out quickly from a junction. It's actually quite dangerous in that respect. Once you're moving if you floor the throttle it certainly shifts with that huge amount of torque but the torque overwhelms the car from a standstill.

[fuel miser]

If you have a look at my post under 'uncomfortable driver's seat', you'll see I recently experienced the stalling problem on a very steep, wet road. It's one of the worst roads in the UK (Hardknott Pass in the Lake District), so maybe unfair to criticise the car, but it did cause me a few hairy moments with traffic waiting behind and up front for me to get round this particularly nasty corner, and the car just constantly refusing to move. If the traction control could be turned off I'm sure it would not have happened, as Habu has confirmed. Certainly had no experience of the other problems, when low on fuel you get both a warning beep and the final fuel indicator light constantly flashes on and off, rather difficult to miss.

[tomdyglen]

If you have a look at my post under 'uncomfortable driver's seat', you'll see I recently experienced the stalling problem on a very steep, wet road. It's one of the worst roads in the UK (Hardknott Pass in the Lake District), so maybe unfair to criticise the car, but it did cause me a few hairy moments with traffic waiting behind and up front for me to get round this particularly nasty corner, and the car just constantly refusing to move. If the traction control could be turned off I'm sure it would not have happened, as Habu has confirmed. Certainly had no experience of the other problems, when low on fuel you get both a warning beep and the final fuel indicator light constantly flashes on and off, rather difficult to miss.

It would however be nice to know an estimate of how many miles there are left before the tank is empty. :D

[timberwolf]

If your Prius was smart enough that it could see into the future, what if it decided it was your fate to run out of gas!

Edit: By "your" in the above, I'm meaning everyone's Prius.

[JonFB]

Nope never had any of those things either.

Had my T3 for a year and am on about 74,000 so getting close to the 80,000 warranty cut off but not experienced any of those issues.

As someone said in an earlier post - buy your Prius and enjoy :-)