Lawsuit Against Toyota on Prius Inverters

My 2011 Prius I bought used and it had the software patch already when I purchased my prius. My IMP failed and I would say I was lucky because it happened when I was pulling up to a stop light. The car went into limp mode and it barely made it across the intersection after the light turned green. I would hate to see what would happen if this was on the freeway but If the vehicle was going at speed the way I understand the drivetrain is it would have some power because it was moving and mine failed coming to a stop and the electric is really needed for accelerating from a stop. I was lucky because I was literally a mile from a toyota dealership and it was repaired for free before noon the next day. The way mine failed I would say it is just a mater of time until they all fail.

 

On my ride home from work, I saw two Gen 3 Prii in different locations on the highway, creeping along the skirt of the road. I didn't see any flats, so I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the inverters.

 

About what mileage did this happen?

 

Seems like a lot of the hybrid system is pretty easy to work with on this car, and the inverters are in the junk yard a dime a dozen from wrecked out pri. Seems like an issue but nothing a $50 inverter from the junkyard couldn't fix. So sounds like an opportunity to start making money on fixing other peoples "junk" cars like the whole red ringed xbox 360 epidemic ( buy for $40 wipe off crappy oem thermal compound, repaste, sell for high again). If anything the inverter cooling system sounds like its inadequate for the car and just needs to be upgraded. A new inverter heat exchanger wouldn't be a crazy fix. Thats basically the entire towing package on the Gen IV's minus the rear hitch and wires. Similar to how when you race the old fox body mustangs they will overheat there steering racks with big tires turning quickly and the fix it to throw a heat exchanger into the rack loop. Problem solved.

 

Actually, there is an ongoing lawsuit over the C7 Z06. It's a car that's "designed for high performance", but goes into a limp mode if thrashed a little too much to prevent overheating.

Corvette Z06 lawsuit: Here's why 'Vette owners are suing Chevrolet

I'd be mad as hell if my $120,000 Corvette wouldn't allow me to drive it aggressively.

 

Tesla pretty much went through the same thing.
Tesla Removes Ludicrous Mode Restrictions After Owner Complaints - The Drive

 

It happened around 149k. I remember this because I was right below the threshold of the battery warranty for Cali Prius

 

I wasn't sure if the two were related given the timing of the news stories about the Prius recall.

 

When I got my Gen3 about 3 years ago it was peppy and I could average between 48 and 49mpg. Now I am at 45-46 and the performance is sluggish compared to what I had. Also performance going up hill is not what it was. I’m at 148k with nothing major to report otherwise.

 

Source: Calif. dealer won't sell some Priuses, citing safety concerns - CBS News

. . .
The problem with the Priuses, which affects models years 2010 to 2014, is that the car's inverter could overheat. The company did a software fix, but years later, Roger Hogan says he's seeing a steady flow of the hybrids at his dealership with a problem he believes the recall should have fixed, reports CBS News' Kris Van Cleave.
. . .​

Second source: Toyota failed to fix defect that can cause Prius to overheat and lose power, dealer claims in lawsuit

Claremont Toyota refuses to sell these Priuses because it believes a defect can cause them to lose power and stop. Dealer Roger Hogan, who is suing Toyota, is flanked by Roger Hogan Jr., left, and Stephen Hogan. The family owns Claremont Toyota and Capistrano Toyota. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)​

Using Google Map, I've not found an aerial view showing the parked cars.

Bob Wilson

 

Getting an inverter out of the junkyard may put you right back in the same place with the same problem at some point.
A month? A year? It'll simply be a roll of the dice.

That said, in the short run it would be less than a new inverter.

 

there are so many things on a prius that can affect performance at that mileage...

 

I agree with @ericbecky. The dealer claims it is a design issue with the inverter. I would like to see more technical details about the reported failures.

The original Gen-1 battery modules were weak and subject to early failure. So a cottage industry of rebuilders came up using salvage packs. Add to that the Gen-1 and Get-2 had weak inverter pumps that some got replaced. So I'm open to the hypothesis that the Gen-3 may have a systemic inverter design issue leading to early failures.

Keeping things in perspective, everything can break and leave one stranded by the side of the road. I don't see inverter failure as a strong safety problem compared to wheel, brake or steering problems.

Bob Wilson

 

Thanks for the info OP.

 

Maybe i missed it, does this not affect a 2015, just through 2014 model years?

 

I thought some might be interested in this article. Stay safe out there:

Electrical defects cause Priuses to stall; Toyota may be bracing for a legal fight as safety worries grow
Ralph Vartabedian
By RALPH VARTABEDIAN
APR 23, 2018 | 6:00 AM

Electrical defects cause Priuses to stall; Toyota may be bracing for a legal fight as safety worries grow
This defective power inverter came out of a 2012 Prius. The car lost power in January while being driven in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. The burn marks show how the inverter overheated and melted components. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Toyota is closely monitoring breakdowns in the electrical power system of some Prius models, as failures continue to mount across the nation despite a 2014 safety recall that was supposed to fix the problem, according to Toyota documents reviewed by The Times.

The Toyota documents show that more than 800 defective electrical components from Toyota Prius models were returned from dealers to the automaker and its outside technical consultant over less than a two-month period this year after electrical system failures.

The problem, in which overheating causes damage to key electrical parts and a resulting loss of power that can leave motorists stranded, has been dogging Toyota for about seven years. But the safety issue is now growing in scope.

A woman driving a Prius in Florida last year was seriously injured when she lost power on a busy four-lane highway and was rear-ended at about 55 miles per hour. Another Prius crash on an Orange County freeway that caused injuries was reported to federal safety regulators in 2016, according to federal records.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is reviewing a petition filed in December by a Southern California Toyota dealer, Roger Hogan, asking for a formal defect investigation. The federal agency said it has sought additional information from Hogan, who owns Claremont Toyota and Capistrano Toyota, and met with Toyota representatives in its review. The NHTSA review follows a lawsuit that Hogan filed last year and a separate suit seeking class-action status that was filed in federal court by Los Angeles attorney Skip Miller.

The issue has caught the attention of congressional safety advocates as well. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, has begun looking into the Prius problem, according to his staff.

The overheating problem occurs in a device known as an inverter, which controls amounts of power flowing between the car's battery and its two electric motors. The device is subject to high internal temperatures that can damage transistors that convert lower-voltage direct current from the battery to higher-voltage alternating current for the motor. The power flow is reversed when the brakes are applied and electricity flows back to charge the battery.

In a statement, Toyota said, "We are continuing to monitor claims and developments in the field, and we will take any appropriate action."

The automaker said that the Prius "has a long history as a safe and reliable vehicle and is among Toyota's most popular models" and that it is "committed to the safety and security of our customers."

Officials at Toyota's U.S. headquarters in Texas appear to be bracing for a big fight. In an unusual move, Toyota began requiring in January that its dealers return every failed inverter or its main component, known as an intelligent power module, to the company's North American headquarters in Texas, according to Hogan. Prior to that, Toyota would request only a sampling of failed parts, he said.

Then on Feb. 8, Toyota instructed dealers to send the failed inverters or modules to Exponent, an engineering and consulting firm in Menlo Park that often helps corporations weather product liability crises.

Exponent was tapped by Toyota in 2010 to defend against allegations that its Camry and other models were subject to sudden acceleration that caused numerous deaths across the nation and triggered a raft of lawsuits. Toyota was ultimately fined a then-record $1.2 billion by federal regulators for the defects and its failure to promptly notify NHTSA of them. The company was released from deferred criminal prosecution only last year.

Toyota issued a safety recall in 2014 that covered as many as 800,000 Prius models built between 2010 and 2014. The recall documents indicated that Toyota had been tracking the problem with the inverter since 2011, when its engineers found cracked solder joints that resulted from "excessive thermal stress."

The 2014 recall modified the software that controls both the inverter and the car's entire drivetrain computer.

Claremont Toyota refuses to sell these Priuses because it believes a defect can cause them to lose power and stop. Dealer Roger Hogan, who is suing Toyota, is flanked by Roger Hogan Jr., left, and Stephen Hogan. The family owns Claremont Toyota and Capistrano Toyota.
Claremont Toyota refuses to sell these Priuses because it believes a defect can cause them to lose power and stop. Dealer Roger Hogan, who is suing Toyota, is flanked by Roger Hogan Jr., left, and Stephen Hogan. The family owns Claremont Toyota and Capistrano Toyota. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The lawsuits contend that the software fix has failed to remedy the problem, citing numerous cases in which Prius electrical systems shut down even after the software was modified. Hogan said he has had 100 Priuses come into his dealerships with inverters that failed after the recall software was installed.

In his petition for a new recall, Hogan alleges that the software fix was aimed at avoiding a much more expensive replacement of the inverter and its main component, the intelligent power module, which can cost $2,000 or more. The software fix costs only $80 per vehicle, he said.

When the inverter overheats, the Prius either loses all power or goes into what the company calls "limp-home" mode, which allows it to be driven at very low speed. Hogan says he is refusing to sell more than 70 Priuses that he took on trade-in because he believes they are unsafe.

A Toyota spokesperson rejected Hogan's allegations, saying that the recall was intended to fix the possibility that an inverter failure could cause the hybrid power system to shut down instead of entering limp-home mode.

The company said Hogan "is pursuing his Prius recall remedy allegations to advance his $100-million lawsuit against Toyota, take the focus away from his dealerships' poor performance and blame Toyota for his son's failure to meet basic qualifications to serve as a general manager at one of his dealerships." It noted that 1,200 other dealers "have not made these accusations."

Hogan denied that assertion.

Hogan and some Toyota owners say that in some inverter failures the car still loses all power and does not enter limp-home mode. In one vehicle brought to Hogan's dealership, the inverter got so hot that holes were melted through its aluminum case. Others had internal parts coated with soot, he said.

A sudden power loss is generally considered a serious safety defect. General Motors was forced to recall 29 million cars in North America starting in 2014 when a defective ignition switch would suddenly shut off the engine. GM offered compensation for 124 deaths related to the defect.

Instances in which a Prius loss of power has caused a crash are now surfacing.

Margaret Long, who lives in Port Charlotte, Fla., was driving to a hospital last August to pick up her husband when she lost power in her 2010 Prius on a busy four-lane highway. Long, a retired college instructor who was 80 at the time, was rammed at about 55 miles per hour from behind, driving her car into the center median.

Long said the accident caused a cracked vertebra, two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. A head injury from the accident has affected her memory, as well.

Long's husband, Marlin, suspects the car lost power because of an inverter failure. The vehicle records show the Prius received the updated software from the recall in 2014. The vehicle was declared a total loss by the insurer and was auctioned off.

Obray George Grubbs witnessed the accident and came to Long's aid. In an interview, Grubbs said Long's car was completely stopped as cars swerved around it.

"I said to myself, this doesn't look good," he recalled. A Toyota Camry came up at full speed and hit Long with so much force that it broke the Prius seat back, leaving Long lying on her back when Grubbs walked up to help her. "I said, ma'am, just hold still."

In February 2016, a motorist from San Diego filed a complaint with NHTSA about his 2012 Prius, which lost power on Interstate 5, came to a stop and was rear-ended, sending him to a hospital emergency room. NHTSA redacted the individual's name on its website, but the complaint included seven detailed supporting documents, in which the motorist focused on an inverter failure as the cause.

In his complaint, the motorist said that after dozens of phone calls, "Toyota has avoided any recognition of the fact that the car stalled."

 

Thanks for posting this. Saw in the LA times this morning. Looks like this isn't going away.

LA-Chris

 

probably the next recall update means even more use of the ice = less mpg/