Prius giving problems

Thanks,

It looks like a forum for Pakistani car enthusiasts. That one post is from someone in Huston and not accurate. But I don't feel any obligation to correct his nonsense there. If he comes here, well we have a nice 'clue by four' . . .

Bob Wilson

 

I have a VW Routan and a Prius, although the Routan is really a Dodge Caravan disguised as a VW.
In any case, many Americans look to Consumer Reports which compiles used car reliability ratings based on actual owner input of repairs etc. Toyota and Prius get among the highest reliability ratings, consistently for many years. Dang it, I can never find the CR annual auto issue when I need it. Someone help me out here, but I think Toyota wins this contest for the long haul vs. VW, but VW may be catching up (especially if we consider the problematic Routan belongs on the Dodge Caravan listing). If you want to say you need a car that has 100% reliability in the 10-15 year old range, hybrids/EV's may have some vulnerability.

 

I have lent my CR auto issue to a friend, but I remember seeing that in this year's used car reliability ratings there were only two car models that had full-colored-circles (the highest CR rating) across all columns; one was the Prius and the other was another Toyota model (I forget which).

My tissue-paper car is holding up pretty well at 11 years and 193000+ miles. I have had to replace one wheel bearing, and I've been without the car for one day so Toyota could give me a new power steering gear unit (at 193000+ miles). Nothing "nightmarish" about that.

You can look at the original quoted post and see that it packs together examples of things to take out before junking, only one of which is hybrid-specific (if you have to reclaim fuel and refrigerant, that applies anywhere, no?). Clues like that can give you a good idea of whether a writer is showing any interest in honesty at all.

As for the dollar value of a Prius in nonworking condition, there have been threads in this forum where owners have considered selling, and the numbers discussed there have tended to be higher than $480 by a fair margin. And this is the forum for the oldest Prius sold in the US.

-Chap

 

Lifespan/Operating costs - Prius Wiki, assuming the OP will be back...

 

2012 Prius Myths Debunked

Ken@Japan

 

For that 2002 CR 2002 Prius report:

Toyota Prius: Consumer Reports

 

You are asking two questions I think
1) how often does a Prius need repair
2) how expensive is a Prius repair

Most of your respondents are answering 1) as it very rarely needs repair, and I agree.

However, here are some big ticket repairs

$5000 The Transaxle is the 2 electric Motor/Generators, the power split device, and the power train out to the wheels. My current theory is that as metals build up in the Automatic Transmission Fluid, they short out one of the big electric motors. If you change your ATF at 30,000 and then every 60,000 it stays much cleaner and caries fewer metals suspended in it. Should yours go bad, a Junk yard will have it for much less than dealer price.

$4000 The Inverter converts the HV Battery's 201 volts DC to 12 volts DC for the rest of the car and into 550 to 650 volts AC for the Motor/Generators. The 'easy' way to burn this up is to jump start your Prius incorrectly. (always get a new 12 volt battery if you need to jump start your Prius) I have not heard of anyone blowing the inverter by other means but I am sure it has happened.

$2500 The High voltage battery hates heat, and dislikes being not driven. Make sure your battery ventilation is not clogged and use A/C anytime you feel hot. Should yours go bad (like all these parts) many are available used.

The Engine goes bad so rarely I do not even know a price, but I am sure it does happen. ($1000 plus labor)

While we are discussing repairs, the brake system is wildly complex. You could do your own pads, but if it need bleeding, let the dealer do it. On some models, it is very difficult to get all the air out of the coolant loop, that may also be a 'professional' job.

And again I stress, all of these seem rare except when self inflicted.

 

Read Consumer Reports

 

There are multiple Prius models around the world so it makes sense to be specific to each one:

• NHW10 (1997-2000) - 1.5L produced for the Japanese market, a few have escaped to a few English speakers. A compact sedan, it mostly worked but a lot of lessons learned for the next model.
• NHW11 (2001-03) - 1.5L sold in Japan, North America and Europe, it introduced the prismatic traction battery and eliminated the seal that separated the stators from the transaxle oil. This forum and Jim's notes apply.
• NHW20 (2004-09) - 1.5L sold around the world, it improved the traction battery, introduced voltage doubling, smaller 201V traction battery, and some bearing improvements in the transaxle along with an improved transaxle oil.
• ZVW30 (2010-current) - 1.8L now has voltage tripling, geared motors, improved control laws, exhaust gas heating of coolant and recirculated, cooled exhaust gas at high power.
• Prius v (2012-current) - the ZVW30 in a bigger chassis.
• Prius c (2012-current) - the older 1.5L Prius with a substantially improved transaxle and much smaller battery pack.

Newer Prius with improve technology are showing substantially improved reliability over the 10 year old, 1.5L, NHW11 that first showed up in North America. Jim has done an excellent description of the maintenance:

I agree with Jim (see above.)

Bob Wilson

 

supply/demand.

I have read before that manufacturers like to see a car sit on a dealer lot for around 60 days on average. Less implies supply is inadequate leading to less overall sales, more implies too much supply and lower transaction prices.

Since the Prius family easily outsells VW 10:1 in the US, just looking at the 'days on the lot' stat is an oranges to apples comparison that does not say anything useful. Phrased another way, if Toyota only sent some 2500 Prius family cars to the US every month, the waiting lists would be over a year long.

So perhaps VW's US supply is short 500 cars a month. That is some 6 hours of Prius sales a month. LOL

From TrueCar , a list of cars with the shortest inventory:



Even the troll who asked the question probably realizes that the Chevy Express Cargo Van and the Chevrolet Spark are not taking the car market by storm.

 

A nice report, 7 year cost of ownership among Prius, Camry Hybrid and Camry Taxi cabs.
http://www.fleetwise.ca/taxi.pdf

Ken@Japan

 

As Sage has advised, Consumer Reports magazine - April (Annual Auto Issue) has perhaps the best data. In the back they give a graphic table for every car model by Manufacturer. In one glance you can see how all Toyotas have ranked over the past 10 years in various maintenance categories, and likewise for VW etc. Whomever it was at Consumer Reports that invented the reliability data presentation format, deserves a promotion.

You can access ConsumerReports.org website for on-line info, but not sure if the website has quite the same appearance for the data, as the hard copy magazine. Also there is a minor subscription fee which I pay for. But I do not think we can give out data here that you are supposed to pay a little bit for. Perhaps it is in your library.