We love our '04 Prius, and haven't had any problems until a few days ago when the display screen stopped working at nearly 40K. It has been at the dealer's for 2 days, and they don't know what the problem is, even after consulting with California. Anyone have a suggestion?
It's called the 2004 "dreaded MFD failure". It happens to 2004s and some 2005s. My MFD has been working intermittently since 46,000 miles (now at 63,000). The screen is only covered by the 36,000 mile warranty. A new screen costs $4,000 but Toyota is supposed to offer refurbished units for $450.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jamarimutt @ Jun 28 2007, 03:30 PM) [snapback]469691[/snapback]</div> Depends on why it's not working. There are specific symptoms for the 2004-05 failure, and they are (or should be) well known enough to Prius techs that I'm sure they ruled that out from the beginning (especially if they called California--and if THEY don't know, it must be something pretty unusual).
Salsared: Please explain what you mean by "stopped working". Symptoms of the MFD failure include: screen goes blank (no data shown), radio turns off when the screen stops/starts working, silly messages (such as check air conditioner connection, radio off even though music is playing, etc.).
Take a look and if the symptoms seem similar, refer the dealer to TSB EL002-05 Multi-Display Functions are Inoperative
The symptoms our car exhibited were just the same that bmiller described in his message about the MFD freezing. I am very happy to report that Toyota agreed to replace the screen, with the only cost to us being 2 hrs of labor ($156). It was done today and works just fine again! Based on the messages I read, I feel extremely fortunate!
