No Way to Change MPH to KPH on New 2016 Model Three

My new 2016 Toyota Prius vehicle has the same dangerous speedometer safety defect that can cause an accident. After a year of trying to get this issue repaired, Toyota refuses to fix this problem. This safety defect affects some 2016 Toyota Prius drivers when they cross the border from the United States to Canada or Canada to the United States because their digital speedometer and other digital vehicle systems such as the navigation system are unable to switch between English and metric units. The digital speedometer issue can cause a driver to crash while inadvertently driving over or under the speed limit because the Toyota software installed in affected vehicles will prevent the driver the ability to select between English and metric units. Toyota claims they do not have a remedy. I think Toyota is waiting to see how many people die in a crash before taking any action to repair this issue.

I purchased a new 2016 Toyota Prius last year after seeing this car on display at the Detroit Auto Show located two miles from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I believe Toyota is intentionally concealing a critical safety defect just like when Toyota did not disclose their deadly "unintended acceleration" problem from a few years ago. After multiple repair attempts, Toyota refuses to correct this speedometer issue and has instructed Toyota dealers to refuse to document this issue on dealer repair orders. Dealers advise the customer they are unable to document the issue on a repair order because there is no remedy available to fix the problem. Some 2016 Toyota Prius digital vehicle speedometers and other vehicle systems made in January and February 2016 are unable to select from English to metric units. Across the border, some 2016 Toyota Prius vehicles sold in Canada, have the same issue in that drivers are unable to select from Metric to English units.

Toyota nationally advertises, "Let's go places." For truth in advertising, Toyota should have really said, "Let's go places, except to Canada, Mexico and the rest of the planet because some Toyota passenger vehicle speedometers can't display metric units."

Toyota concealed this defect which causes driver problems in reading the digital speedometer, odometer, navigation system and more when you travel across Canada or Mexico. The Toyota online documentation I reviewed prior to purchase said my 2016 Gen 4 Prius was equipped with this feature. As a firefighter/paramedic, I know it is dangerous to drive at the wrong speed. A United States driver using their vehicle in Canada may see a speed limit sign advising 40 (kph) but, because their Toyota Prius speedometer can only display the speed in in miles per hour, the driver may inadvertently drive at 64 kph, significantly exceeding the posted 40 kph speed limit. Since the 2016 Toyota Prius speedometer is digital, there is no conversion or dual display available. Toyota advises my remedy is to simply to purchase a new Toyota Prius to replace my new Toyota Prius at a cost to me of about $15,000.00 to correct their speedometer issue. I believe this problem is an international safety defect and some drivers will get killed while inadvertently driving at an incorrect speed.

On April 10, 2017, I emailed Detroit Call For Action and spoke with Mr. Mike Todd. His email is Recalls | NHTSA

I called NHTSA on April 3, 2017, and was told it could be years before the Office of Defects Investigation looks at a complaint. Accordingly, I might not get a prompt response from NHTSA. As a senior citizen, this is frustrating.

On December 19, 2016, I reported this complaint to www.consumerreports.org by phone. They assigned reference number 002642314A.

I also filed this complaint at 2016 Toyota Prius Speedometer Won't Convert Miles To Kilometers: 3 Complaints

As you can see, other Prius owners also filed 2016 Toyota speedometer complaints at www.carcomplaints.com.

In addition, other people both in the United States and Canada described the same issue after I reported this defect at www.priuschat.com.

Read more:

https://priuschat.com/threads/did-toyota-delete-the-mph-kph-selection-in-the-speedometer-of-your-us-2016-prius.172526 andNo Way to Change MPH to KPH on New 2016 Model Three | PriusChat

I paid an extra $1,935 for the Toyota Advanced Technology Package when I purchased my 2016 Prius Four so I could avoid any issue with purchasing additional accessories such as a GPS or dash-cam. Now, the cost of purchasing a new Prius to replace my defective lemon 2016 Prius is an additional $15,000. It does not seem fair that Toyota customers will need to pay more and continue to be inconvenienced because of Toyota factory defects.

I have now waited 15 months for a Toyota solution to fix their speedometer and navigation system with metric unit defects. I also waited six months to receive a Toyota solution to my constantly rebooting navigation system. After Toyota fixed their defective navigation software, my map data was over one year old. Toyota dealers want to bill customers $200 to $300 US to get updated software for their navigation system drives could not use for months due to a software issue. The map software installed in my vehicle is dated May 1, 2015.

Since Toyota is unable to fix their speedometer and navigation software issues used in their 2016 Prius vehicles, for driver safety, I believe Toyota should recall these lemon vehicles and crush them to prevent future owners from crashing while driving a 2016 Prius with the dangerous digital speedometer and navigation safety defects.

If this problem describes your Toyota 2016 Prius speedometer issue, please contact me on Prius Chat with your vehicle details so I can forward your Toyota experience with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and other investigative or consumer reporters. Be sure to include your contact information such as your name, address, VIN number and telephone so I can share your information with other agencies who may be able to help.

 

Mine was manufactured in Japan in March of 2016 according to the door sticker.

 

Correct, as one of my long-ago car pool partners learned from a speeding citation the previous weekend in British Columbia.

As we were commuting, she still didn't know how she could have known her metric speed -- until both of us passengers pointed out the KPH ring on her analog speedometer, just inside the MPH ring. She was embarrassed to have never noticed it.

Is this re-posted from the Onion or something?

The Basic Speed Law should cover any crash risk from a driver simply not being able to make sense of posted speed limits and speedometer readings, because frequently there are conditions that render the posted speed limit as a fiction. Drivers must be able to display reasonable judgement:

Basic Speed Law - DriversEd.com
MDOT - Can you explain Michigan's Basic Speed Law ...?
The "Basic" Speed Law | Nolo.com

 

I still wonder how hard it'd really be to just retrofit the newer revision parts...

And, really, these cars aren't that incredibly dangerous - yes, it's crap that Toyota won't fix it, but it's not something that is a massive public health hazard. Shit, I've driven cars without working speedometers at all (protip: the speed sensor on a Volkswagen 02J manual transmission is not a hand hold, do not lift the transmission by it when you're doing a clutch job).

 

IIRC, km/h was required for a long time, starting when the U.S. had a metric conversion plan. Reagan killed that plan, but the km/h requirement wasn't dropped until much later.

So while I'd call the absence a blunder on the car maker's part, it certainly isn't a safety defect when our safety regulations allow it to be absent.

As for not being able to switch distance units on the odometer and navigation, characterizing those as safety defects is beyond silly. Inconvenient, yes, but no more.

 

Agreed, modern vehicles molly coddle us too much these days, some people expect too much.
LOL, in my youth I've driven a car with no foot brake, relying on the hand brake to stop, cars with a broken clutch cable, using revs to match the speed and clonk the gears in, a car with the front suspension held in place by a 4x2 piece of wood etc. etc. all more dangerous than a faulty speedo, but do-able.

 

When you have a 16 year old drive your Prius in a foreign country, for driver safety, you want the speedometer and navagation system to display the correct units. Not every Toyota Prius driver is good at math. Besides, Toyota appears to be intentionally covering up this defect by telling dealers that they must not document this issue because Toyota does not have a remedy to this defect. The on-line documentation I used prior to purchase says my vehicle is equipped with the mph to kph selection.

This behavior is similar to when Toyota covered up their deadly acceleration issue resulting is a 1.2 Billion dollar settlement. More information on the Toyota vehicle defect cover-up is here: Toyota to Pay $1.2B for Hiding Deadly ‘Unintended Acceleration’ - ABC News

 

Newbie drivers are a risk in and of themselves. Why would a parent throw an unfamiliar foreign country into the mix?

Does your Nav show speed? Mine doesn't. It only shows time and distance, neither of which is rationally connected to road safety issues.

The Basic Speed Law doesn't require any math, just a reasonable seat-of-the-pants feel for safe speeds under current conditions. A 16 year old has had little time to build up that experience, with or without a working speedometer.

This is a civil / contract / consumer fraud matter between you and the car maker, not a critical safety issue involving DOT / NHTSA. Don't mix up the domains to which particular problems belong.

That, and plenty more, is here in PriusChat too, where many of us discussed the enormous hyperbole stacked atop this issue. Don't forget to read the NASA report on this.

 

When you live in a town adjacent to a country border like Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, people routinely cross to and from the other country for work or school. When you purchase a Toyota vehicle after seeing it at the Detroit Auto Show, two miles from Canada and the owner's manual says your vehicle is equipped with this feature, you expect it to work. You also expect Toyota will not tell their dealers not to document this problem just like Toyota did not document the deadly acceleration problem from a few years ago.


My navigation does display the speed limit in mph. It does not display speed. The selection to change to metric is not available. When traveling in Canada or Mexico, these countries use the metric system. My nav unit should be able to change to metric like it says in the documentation. If Toyota is unable to fix the problem, it seems unreasonable that Toyota drivers need to purchase a new Prius to replace their new Prius at a cost to the Toyota owner of over $15,000.

A 16 to 21-year-old is licensed to drive and expects their Toyota vehicle to be safe. If your only vehicle is a Toyota, you expect it to be safe and to work correctly. When you purchase a new Prius for over $30,000, I expect my Toyota Prius to have a working speedometer that will display the correct units such as mph or kph as it published in the Toyota documentation. I think Toyota customers that had the deadly acceleration problem expected their Toyota vehicles to be safe before they were involved in a deadly crash.

I disagree. I think a this is both a critical safety issue and a consumer fraud issue. That is why I filed a complaint with NHTSA as they requested. When Toyota tells their dealers not to document the speedometer issue, just like Toyota did with the deadly acceleration problem, it may also be a consumer fraud matter. My Toyota dealer says they do not manufacture Toyota vehicles so my remedy appears to be with Toyota.

 

Is it a critical safety issue that a car without any navigation at all doesn't tell you the speed limit?

In any case, the speedometer and navigation not being fixed sucks, Toyota arguably did falsely advertise that it should work, and Toyota should be able to fix it. Them not being able to is grounds for a lemon law case, which the threat of might actually get your car fixed.

It, however, complies with the laws of the country that it was sold for, and therefore the NHTSA has no power to intervene.

 

In Michigan, you must have four documented repairs for the same issue to use the Michigan lemon law. Lemon law attorneys tell me the lemon law may not apply as Toyota owners will not have four documented attempts for repair because Toyota has told their dealers not to document the 2016 Toyota Prius speedometer problem and advise the Toyota owner there is no remedy available. Toyota dealers advise my remedy is to buy a new Prius to replace my new Prius at a cost of over $15,000. My Toyota Prius factory warranty service does not seem to be customer focused.

 

When it comes to automobile safety, I expect there is a list of basic requirements and detailed standards which the average person never sees.

Do you think it is possible that there is some regulation buried in the archives that mandated cars show both MPH and KPH?

I am old enough to remember when the metric system was something new and an actual topic of everyday conversation, and which school children were encouraged to learn as it represented the future.

If you can find that such a rule, I think you would have a strong case -- if not, Toyota still screwed you for omitting a feature that was referenced in the owner's manual -- and so prevalent that one might expect it under a basic warantee of merchantability-- but a harder path.

If you want another name to be added to the list, let me know and I will add mine (I took delivery inJanuary 2016)

As for safety concerns, I have a "SpeedTracker" app on my iPhone and iPad that might help. Crude and expensive if you need to buy an extra hardware, but if you think it will save a life-- might be worth it.

 

You keep avoiding the Basic Speed Law issue. Irrespective of any posted speed limits, the driver is obligated to keep down to safe speeds for the current conditions. And possibly keep up to the prevailing local traffic. So this lack of a gauge in the local units issue is merely a matter of avoiding speeding citations when prevailing traffic is too sparse to offer a local speed reference or herd protection from traffic enforcement. That isn't a NHTSA-level problem.

My current Gen3 navigation does not show any speed limits at all. My previous Gen3 didn't even have navigation. Their absence is not a safety issue. If all us Gen1/Gen2/Gen3 owners can get by without it being a safety issue, why can't you?

On top of that, when both your Nav and speedo are showing speeds limits for Canadian roads in the same U.S. units, what is the problem? This would be a problem only if they were in differing units.

P.S.: Your navigation units argument carries the implication that navigation is now a required safety feature on all cars. The continued availability of new cars without any Nav at all, presents an extremely tall hurdle in trying to pursue this claim.

Consumer fraud? Sure, sue them. If this is an an essential feature for you, and you relied on their advertised product features as including this (did you keep a printed brochure showing it?), then you may well have a case.

Just beware that a phone app (on a proper hands-free mount) or aftermarket GPS has a much higher likelihood of success in showing your speed in the desired units, for vastly less effort and expense. If you have a real case, then someone at the dealership should even have been empowered to just give you an aftermarket GPS, and even install it for you.

Safety? Please let us know what NHTSA says. I can't foresee them agreeing that they have any jurisdiction.

 

Did you get a statement of the work that was performed, and what they told you? If so, that is documentation.

 

While Toyota obviously fouled up, there is a solution that doesn't require any action on their part.

Buy an aftermarket GPS that displays speed in your choice of KPH/MPH. Lots cheaper than $15,000.

 

I do not believe there is a mandated MPH and KPH requirement. That is why I reviewed the Toyota on-line literature carefully prior to purchase. I spent extra to purchase the Advanced Technology option so I would not need to add any aftermarket products. Toyota did not clearly and conspicuously disclose their speedometer and other systems would not switch between MPH and KPH on 2016 Prius vehicles sold in the United States and Canada. Changing the advertised on-line owner's manual by adding an asterisk on one page of an 800-page owner's manual is not a clear and conspicuous disclosure.

I would be happy to add your name and contact information to the list of 2016 Toyota Prius owners who have the speedometer, navigation or other issues. Agencies like NHTSA do accept on-line reports and review each one. Please send me a message with your contact information and your Toyota customer service experience.

When I visited my local Toyota dealers to fix my 2016 Prius speedometer, the Toyota dealers told me they were not allowed to write up the speedometer defect because Toyota had no remedy.

This behavior is similar to when Toyota covered up their deadly acceleration issue resulting is a 1.2 Billion dollar settlement. More information on the Toyota vehicle defect cover-up is here: Toyota to Pay $1.2B for Hiding Deadly ‘Unintended Acceleration’ - ABC News

To document your speedometer problem, consider entering an on-line vehicle defect report to the government National Highway Transportation Safety Administration at File a Vehicle Safety Complaint | Safercar.gov | NHTSA

I also entered my complaint with 2016 Toyota Prius Speedometer Won't Convert Miles To Kilometers: 3 Complaints

It took about three months to post on their complaint board.

You should also contact the consumer reporters at your local television stations. Feel free to share my complaint and contact information with them.

I hope Toyota will fix this problem before someone is killed in an accident due to the model year 2016 Toyota Prius speedometer problem.

 

Thank you, RobH for your suggestion.The State of Michigan prohibits an aftermarket GPS stuck on the windshield of my 2016 Prius. That is why I purchased a new 2016 Toyota Prius with the advanced technology package so I would be in compliance with the Michigan vehicle Code and to avoid needing to add or buy any aftermarket products to correct a Toyota software defect.

Read the State of Michigan Vehicle Code here: http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-257-709

 

Toyota dealers in my area claim they are unable to enter a repair order for the 2016 Prius speedometer issue because Toyota does not have a remedy for this issue.

Accordingly, their service technicians at the dealership level can not provide any service to repair this issue because Toyota has not given them a remedy. Therefore, the Toyota dealer service writer advises all 2016 Prius owners with the MPH/KPH issue that their Toyota dealership is not allowed to enter a repair order for an uncorrectable problem as there is nothing their technicians can correct.

This behavior seems similar to when Toyota covered up their deadly acceleration issue resulting is a 1.2 Billion dollar settlement. More information on the Toyota vehicle defect cover-up is here: Toyota to Pay $1.2B for Hiding Deadly ‘Unintended Acceleration’ - ABC News

 

Per Section 257.709(1)(c):

(my emphasis)

However, per Section 257.708b(3):

Again, my emphasis.

And, relevant to an aftermarket GPS, I'll quote section (1) for context (because section (2) depends on it), but emphasize (2)(b)...

tl;dr: 257.709(1)(c) has a clause providing exceptions where authorized, 257.708b(3) in combination with 257.708b(2)(b) provides the authorization for mounting an aftermarket GPS that 257.709(1)(c) allows for.