Prius 2014 - Multiple Door Lock Actuator Failure

test the 12v health

 

All four actuators failed on my 2012, so it definitely happens. I was also fairly disappointed about this, although it's the only thing that has gone wrong on the car (literally) and I'm at 145k.

I replaced them myself with actuators I bought on eBay from seller actuatorplus. They were about $100 a pop or so. It's not a bad job and there are some DIY's out there somewhere. There's also a thread on this site about replacing the individual motors in the actuator, but that's more than I wanted to deal with.

 

do they not work from the inside door switches?

 

over a short period of time three door locks stopped working. First the driver side, lock stopped responding to the FOP and the key-less entry stopped working on the passenger handle. Next the rear door on the driver side stopped responding to the FOB followed by the front passenger door. The hatchback and rear passenger side door respond to the FOB. All locks work manually.

It just doesn't sound like a lock issue to me. Sounds more like an electronics issue or something.



All four actuators failed on my 2012, so it definitely happens.

This definitely falls under the category of having to see it to believe it.

 

the way they failed from the fob, then sks is odd

 

I would say start with the simple stuff. Put a new battery in the FOB. It's a 2014 and probably has the original 12v. Like Bisco said and regardless of justification not to, get the 12v battery checked or just replace it. It's about due anyway. Peace of mind. Or just hook up a charger to it. Cheap(er) and easier thangs to do before investing too much time and effort. A bunch of door locks failing simultaneously doesn't pass the coincidence test.

 

This definitely happens. I am replacing my third door actuator inside of 3 months. The motors inside the actuator fail around the same time. You can try to take apart the actuators and replace the motors for $15, but it is much easier to just buy the whole actuator assembly for $110 from actuators plus on ebay and he offers a lifetime warranty (if you mail the old ones back in his prepaid envelope he sends you) so when they fail in another 5 years you can get them replaced for free.

For the instructions to fix yourself:, just google the exact phrase "DIY: How to Replace the Door Lock Actuator on Your 3rd Gen Prius" and click on the machanon blog post.

The fix seems a bit intimidating, but it only took me 45 minutes the first time and closer to 25 minutes the next time since I knew what I was doing.