Prius owners... watch out for the 3009 error code. It will cost you dearly.

Howdy fellow prius owners. In March of 2009, I had a failure in the electric motor in my gen1 prius with less than 90k miles on it.



My purpose in this thread is to make prius owners aware of this failure condition (although I see many references to 3009 error on the boards recently) and that it might cost YOU a considerable sum of money to fix it. This is applicable to both the gen1 and gen2 prius and it does not matter if the car has "by the book" maintenance and service or not (mine is "by the book").



Below, in between the lines, is a copy of the body of a letter I sent to Toyota USA customer care in mid-April. I waited till now to post this to the boards as I wanted to see if Toyota had a response for me. As of today, I have yet to receive a response from Toyota customer care. I have taken the case numbers, etc. out of the body of the letter. ***The dealership, Toyota Sunnyvale, in my opinion, did a great job. They even tried to talk to Toyota customer care after I sent the letter as I had cc'd people at Toyota Sunnyvale on the letter.



______________________________________________________

I own a 2001 Toyota Prius with just shy of 90,000 miles on it. It has been a great car and until now, the epitome of a Toyota; a quality, reliable product. I am writing this letter to share my recent service experience with this car and more importantly – to voice my current dissatisfaction with the Toyota service philosophy around the Prius product.


Around March 15th, 2009, my Prius started making a weird humming noise. Some research at home uncovered references that at times, a weird humming noise and a “check engine light†indicated a failure of one of the two electric motors inside the transaxle. I did not have a “check engine light†at the time so I though that perhaps a wheel bearing had gone bad.


On March 24th, I drove the Prius to Toyota Sunnyvale for them to diagnose the noise and also to perform the 90,000 mile major service. En route, the “check engine light†came on. The dealership called me later that day to tell inform me that the noise, and the code p3009 which was set, meant that indeed one of the electric motors inside the transaxle had failed. A case number XXXXXX was opened with Toyota and they verified the original diagnosis. Toyota Sunnyvale then tried to see if Toyota would help cover the cost of the repair. I was very pleased and appreciative of the steps the dealership took to try to get Toyota to help me out. It turns out that the dealership had no luck and gave me the final diagnosis and cost estimate to fix it. I was told that the repair procedure was to replace the entire transaxle (instead of just the bad electric motor) and that the parts price was roughly $3,725 and the labor roughly $1,430.


I was flabbergasted at the price and a bit upset that I was told that I had to replace an entire transaxle due a failure in just one of its components. I called an independent repair shop here locally to ask them their opinion. This shop had also been one of the references I saw earlier describing this phenomenon and they confirmed that the procedure in these cases was to replace the entire transaxle.


At this point, I called Toyota customer care myself and opened up ticket number (XXXXXX). This is when I learned that the electric motor was covered with the same warranty coverage as the transaxle, even though it is a part unique to the hybrid system! It amazed me that something which is obviously an integral part to electric /"hybrid" nature of the car, is not covered under the hybrid warranty. This design and this motor is clearly something unique to the “hybrid†technology for the car. I am further disappointed that Toyota does not have an alternative repair or replace procedure (and parts) for the electric motor failure. The only solution offered is to replace the entire transaxle. In other words, Toyota expects that a customer replace a perfectly good transaxle, except for the electric motor inside, when the electric motor dies. Your customer care representatives were helpful and courteous and tried to do what they could but in the end, told me that there was nothing Toyota could do.


Toyota markets itself as a maker of quality, dependable cars. Much of your customer satisfaction and return business is based on this reputation for dependability. Common perception is that Toyota automobiles can thrive on basic maintenance and care. Thus, I find it hard to swallow, and out of the ordinary, that for a Toyota product, that I am forced to spend roughly one quarter of the car's original purchase price for a repair on a Toyota with just 90k miles on it.


Ultimately, I had no other good option than to have the dealership repair the car. Additionally, I am now considering selling the car as I am leery of how much the next repair on the Prius could be. I have also discovered that the second generation (in America) Prius has the same design (electric motors are inside the transaxle) and the replace/repair procedure is the same and just as costly. I do not however, know if the hybrid warranty covers the electric motors in the second generation Prius. Many people will be unhappy if/when they have to go through what I have gone through!


The Prius is not my first Toyota vehicle. I also have a 1982 FJ40 with just over 152,000 miles on it. I have not had any major issues with it (all stock and original). I have had nothing but a "usual" Toyota reliability experience with the FJ40. I really wish I could have said the same about the Prius....


This has been an immensely disappointing and costly experience and I hope that this letter might get Toyota to change their stance on how to cover a failure of a hybrid specific part in a hybrid vehicle. If you have any questions or want to talk further about my experience, please feel free to contact me.
______________________________________________________




****Again, I just want to get the word out there that:
-The prius can have this problem.
-The hybrid unique part (the electric motor) is not covered by the hybrid warranty (it is covered by the drivetrain warranty) on a gen1 prius.
-The repair procedure is to replace an entire "module" instead of just the bad part.
-Replacing the "module" is extremely expensive in both parts and labor.
-I did not have any luck getting Toyota to help or cover completely my repair.


Happy Motoring!
lndbrusr

 

the transmission fluid was changed at 60k per the service interval... I find that a 60k interval probably is not often enough and was going to ask the dealership to change it during my 90k until this happened. Also, I am not convinced that replacing fluid would have prevented the electric motor winding failure which is what really occured.

Unfortunately, I did not have the time to scour the junkyards and with junkyards, often you get what you pay for...

lndbrusr

 

FL_Prius_Driver & Sandy--yes, Toyota is honoring the letter of their warranty contracts. I can not fault them for that. I do consider this one of those "grey areas" where a manufacturer can step up and make a customer for life or not...

More importantly, the intent on this post is to let people know to start saving money for this potential problem. From my post:

My purpose in this thread is to make prius owners aware of this failure condition (although I see many references to 3009 error on the boards recently) and that it might cost YOU a considerable sum of money to fix it. This is applicable to both the gen1 and gen2 prius and it does not matter if the car has "by the book" maintenance and service or not (mine is "by the book").

donee--The "independent repair shop" in the body of my letter is Art's Automotive in Berkeley--another highly regarded independent Bay Area repair shop.

lndbrusr

 

FL_Prius_Driver,

Again, the purpose of this thread is to let prius owners know that they have a potentially costly repair possibly in front of them.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion about my expectations/hopes being to high or not.

-I personally believe that hybrid specific parts SHOULD be part of a hybrid warranty.

-I personally believe that, for whatever reason Toyota chose, the repair procedure and supply chain for a busted electrical motor is to replace an entire, costly, transaxle might not be the least expensive option for the customer (although it might be the easiest for the manufacturer/dealership)!

-I have owned many cars over my lifetime. This is the first time I have ever had to pay one quarter of the car's original sales value for a single repair. I have owned BMWs and if you had told me that one of my cars would have a repair cost of this caliber, I would have guessed it to be the BMW and not the Toyota!

-I have had other manufacturers cover "grey area" work under warranty as a way to keep me a loyal, happy customer. I will admit though that those occurrences happened before the current economic downturn!

lndbrusr

 

I am actually keeping the car for the time being. I don't know how much driving I will have to do to feel as though I got value out of that big repair bill though ;-)

thanks,
cj