Did anyone see the newspaper article that appeared 3 or 4 days ago regarding Hybrid repair statistics? It was printed in the Hawaii paper, but I can't find it on the websites (threw away the hard copy). The article mentioned the Prius, and stated that repair incidences (since 2001) to the gasoline engine were twice that of comparable non-hybrid cars. Why should this be true if the gas engine is not used as much in a hybrid?
Odd - I've never heard of anyone having problems with the ICE. Unless they count an oil change as a "repair incidence" ;P Dave
Link to article: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?pag...072604b3_hybrid Article is derived from: J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study. It asked '01 model owners what has gone wrong in the past three years.
J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study. It asked '01 model owners what has gone wrong in the past three years. Yes but who paid for the study? Did they do it because they are nice guys? Did GM who has no hybrid or a program for it do this or perhaps various oil interests, or "whisper it" the Bush family and the Saudi's. Who knows?
The discrepancies can be dramatic. Owners of 2001-model Toyota and Honda hybrids reported twice as many engine problems as owners of gas-engine Toyotas and Hondas. ya know that still adds up to half as many problems as any standard american car as far as im concerned. Automakers insisted there's nothing inherently troublesome about diesels or hybrids and said they score higher than gas-power vehicles in other measures of quality and satisfaction. voicing the obvious... also... the only problem seems to be just the computer which was recalled and fixed as far as i knew. does anyone here with a classic experience any problems? also another note. when reviewing the 2004 Prius, Motortrend said that reliability of the previous hybrids from Toyota were excellent and they expected the same for the new upgraded version. now one more point. and probably should have been mentioned in the article. as a computer tech, i can attest to the fact that new technology always has a learning curve associated with it. there is no doubt in my mind that some of "reported" problems were simply user error or user confusion.
Consumer Reports states that the '04 and previous models have excellent reliability... on par with the Camry and other Toyotas.
And check engine lights can be caused by not screwing the tank cap on correctly or tight enough. Or is that just for the Prius II?
Actually, that came up as a probable cause on "Car Talk" * a few weeks ago, and they weren't talking about a hybrid car. * Car Talk - National Public Radio "car troubleshooting" program. As much humor as actual problem diagnosis. Quite fun
Not screwing the gas cap down tight enough will trigger the check engine light on all new cars. It's part of the OBDII on board diagnostics systems in the cars, to combat evaporative emissions. I have a classic, and it has been the single most reliable car so far, that I've ever purchased - period. While my Dodge truck has been reliable as gravity, it did have a couple of warranty issues. It's only out of pocket failure was an A/C compressor. Not bad in 104k miles. In 27k miles that I've had the Prius, it has had zero warranty issues, and has only been in the dealers service bay for it's 7500 mile services. It's one exception was for a front end alignment after I was unsuccessful in dodging a dead animal on the road. That one is obviously not Toyota's fault. Unfortunately, tires will be on the list soon, as the tread is getting close to the wear bars.
CU actually said that the '04 Prius is too new to have reliability statistics yet, but that being a Toyota, is likely to be extremely reliable. However, if they count every time someone goes in during the first 100 miles because of that O2 sensor setting off the check-engine light, it's gonna look terrible on the stats.
the Prius classics have over 20 million miles of road tests including fleet vehicles in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Phoenix. some of these vehicles have 250,000 miles and are at or below normal maintainence costs. The 2004 is reworked but still essentially an upgraded and refined model. there will be some software issues i believe simply because that is the nature of computers. even intel cant figure out all the bugs (i worked there for 2 years so i do have some inside info) many times they would come up with intermmitent errors that were not reproducible making it nearly impossible to pinpoint a cause. considering the advanced technology on the car the the guts Toyota has to market the car, i have nothing but pure unfettered admiration for them and will back them 100%
