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Prius Owners Losing Ground in Traction Battle

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 17, 2007

Toyota Prius • General Complaints • Acceleration • Availability • Battery • Fuel Gauge • Headlight • Insurance Costs • Service Delays • Tires • Transmission • Traction --- • Happy Hybrid Owners --- Test Drive • Three Lead Feet Meet Little Fuel Sipper --- News • Toyota Ready to Expand Safety Recall Beyond Floor Mats • U.S. Prius Sales Drop 45 Percent • Prius Tops Consumer Reports Best New-Car Value List • Toyota Parks Plans For New Prius Plant • Prius Vandalism On the Rise in California • Toyota Plans Prius Plant in Mississippi • Solar Panels to Power Prius Air Conditioning • Unexpected Problems Confront Prius Owners • NHTSA to Hear 'Silent Killer' Complaints • Reports of Prius Price Gouging Rise with Gas Prices • Prius, Porsche Models Top Most-Satisfied Lists • Should You Buy a Second-Hand Prius? • Winter Weather Warning for Prius Drivers • Prius Again Tops Owner Satisfaction Survey • Prius Helps Toyota Knock Off Ford for #2 Spot • Toyota Recalls Floor Mats, NHTSA Warns Prius Owners • Feds Probe Prius Runaway Acceleration • Prius Owners Report More Unintended Acceleration Incidents • Runaway Acceleration Plagues Prians • Toyota Delays Third-Generation Prius • Sales Top 1 Million but Some Owners Find Prius Doesn't Age Well • Prius Owners Losing Ground in Traction Battle • Prius Traction Control Complaints on the Rise • Prius Stalls in Snow; Owners Steamed • Prius Shuts Down in the Snow, Reader Complains • Prius Supplies Increase as Sales Slow • Prius Discounts Popping Up in Showrooms • EPA Finds Prius #1 in Gas Mileage • Prius Owners Question Mileage Claims • Prius Tops Consumer Satisfaction Survey • Hybrids Don't Always Deliver the Expected Fuel Economy

Traction control problems continue to plague the electronically-sophisticated Toyota Prius, at times stranding owners of the little hybrid at the bottom of a hill or driveway.

Toyota has addressed a similar problem in other of its models including the new 2007 Tundra pickup truck and the Scion xB and xD. All three models allow traction control and Vehicle Stability Control to be turned off.

Under normal circumstances Toyota makes a change to vehicles when “the product is all-new or entering its next generation,” according to a Toyota executive.

“Toyota believes to be successful, we must listen to our customers. If Prius customers report a problem with their traction control systems Toyota will listen to them,” a company representative said.

"I can't say a similar change is going to be made on the next Prius but if Toyota customers (like your readers) consider this a problem then Toyota will study this situation,” he said.

Perhaps.

Some ConsumerAffairs.com readers will disagree that Toyota is willing to listen. But there's little doubt Toyota is fully aware of the Prius traction control problem, at least according to one new Prius owner.

Gary lives in Pettigrew, Arkansas and he bought a 2007 Prius in Janaury.

“Our driveway is fairly steep and is dirt and gravel,” he wrote ConsumerAffairs.com. “We came and went for three weeks without any issue, then our car started shutting down about halfway up our .3 of a mile driveway.”

Once the wheels slipped the car simply shut down. Gary took his Prius back to Toyota AutoPark in Fayetteville, Arkansas where he bought the hybrid. The dealer insisted that they hadn't had any problems like that before.

After contacting Toyota to get more information, the dealer reprogrammed the Prius computer and mounted different tires on the car. The fix did not work.

Toyota sent company representatives from Little Rock and Houston, Texas to Gary's house with another Prius which also could not get up the driveway.

Nevertheless, the Toyota representatives “told the dealership they are accepting responsibility for this problem and the car is operating as it is supposed to.”

Other Cars OK

Gary told us that other small cars have no difficulty with his gravel drive. “Our daughter's Honda sedan pulls our driveway just fine, as did the loaner car Toyota gave us.”

“The Houston representative guessed that our road may have been frozen in January which is why the car pulled the driveway just fine for the first three weeks," Gary said.

“They will not pay us back for the car or pay the dealership for their loss.”

Gary is one Prius owner who thinks that if, “this car won't perform as a normal car it should have some warning label on it letting the consumer know before they go out and buy a $30,000 car that won't go up their driveway and that Toyota will not stand behind their dealerships.”

“I'm sure if our car did this in a place where there was traffic it would be a safety hazard,” Gary warned.

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