Comments for

Comment on Toyota video on Sikes “runaway” incident by haven putnam

haven putnam — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:26:44 +0000

Hi:
I took an EV conversion class last summer , to learn how to convert my Prius to a plug-in , also bought an extra black box . The class had quite a few electrical engineers , one of which had a business doing the conversions . When the San Diego so called car mat/gas petal , breaking problem ( 4 deaths ) occurred I contacted him , mentioned that this was strangely similar to the Audi problem a few years ago ! A problem by the way that Audi was able to troubleshoot and correct ! It now seems Toyotas current focus is to discredit the driver , claim driver error ( Again San Diego where the Highway Patrol stuck by the story !!! ) and insult the intelligence of the owner !!! Message is if you have a problem the ends up on TV we are going to go out of our way to ruin your life with bad publicity !!!! I am left to wonder is that draconian policy designed to keep Prius owners from reporting problems ?
Personally I find it surprising that there haven’t been more problems , as a rapid succession of brake / accelerate could overload and temporarily lock-up the CPU !!! How many times have you had that on your personal computer , tell me it’s not possible on the vehicle computer !!! Why not develop a flight simulator type testing system to duplicate the driving conditions of the problem cars , as all it takes is a chip that is intermittently malfunctioning, and it is quite possible the problem occurs so rarely it won’t show up until you run it threw 1000 simulations !!!
Personally my Prius is the best car I have ever owned , have no plans of selling it and am prepared to deal with the problem if it should arise !!! Just wish Toyota could work with AUDI ( if only for PR reasons ) as all this negative publicity serves no useful purpose !!!
regards
haven putnam

Comment on Orange County California continues to make fun of itself by DAVID

DAVID — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:31:01 +0000

While this TOYOTA issue is mainly Floor Mat Entrapment, and The Testing or so Called Testing by Profesor Gilbert, which in the Normal World can not happen whatsoever in Real World he Crossed or Jump over 4 Other Wires to Splice 2 together, yes it created unintended acceleration, without an error code, well whoever is Driving an ACCURA, BMZ, MERCEDES BENZ, HONDA, TOYOTA, NISSAN, HUYNDAI, LEXUS, and so on and so on and so Jump Out and Park Your Cars walk take a bus, horse, donkey (Professor Gilbert)because in his so called test and finding when you do it to all these models Guess What Happens?? UNINTENDED ACCERATION and NO ERROR CODES!!!!???!! WHAT YOU SAY???!! It’s IDIOTS and GRANDSTANDINDING POLITICIANS LIKE TONY RUCKENHAUS WASTING EVERYONES MONEY TAX PAYER MONEY YOU MORON TONY. I hope you have evidence to back up your Claim! You MORON!!

Comment on Hey, All you tall Prius owners out there! by russell

russell — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:40:06 +0000

You test drove a car and your back hurts? That must have been some test drive.

The redesigned seats of the 2010 I’ve found to be exceptionally comfortable and I’ve heard a lot of good things from the taller folks who own as well.

That said, no design can accommodate everyone.

Comment on Hey, All you tall Prius owners out there! by Tamara

Tamara — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:10:41 +0000

I just test drove a 2010 Prius yesterday and my back is killing me today. I was given a great deal and would love to get 50mpg, but my health and comfort is more important than all that. I simply can’t drive a car that hurts. Toyota needs to get with the program and get back to better ergonomic design.

Comment on Service contracts, are they worth buying? by Jolie Kopin

Jolie Kopin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:55:50 +0000

Hey , i would like to say thank you about this cool post, very helpful to me, Thank You.

Comment on Hey, All you tall Prius owners out there! by Helen

Helen — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:49:37 +0000

I love love love my 2008 Prius. I would never get rid of it due to the seats. But I will say it absolutely is KILLING my back! I do triathlons and marathons and I am basically crippled at the moment. I haven’t trained at all this season yet and this all started when I bought my Prius. I have a long commute and MUST find a solution to better suppport my back. Glad to hear I’m not the only one experiencing this issue. But definitley in love with the car otherwise and I’m keeping it.

Comment on The runaway Prius saga by russell

russell — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:14:19 +0000

Stupid people do stupid things.

They say stupid things too.

“piles of brake dust”

Hilarious.

Comment on The runaway Prius saga by Bubba

Bubba — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:02:13 +0000

Dude…the physical evidence of my car plowing into a wall isn’t enough for you? The piles of brake dust under my runaway Lexus not enough for you? Perhaps you need to actually feel Palin’s bumpit to know it’s real?

Comment on There is no way this can end well by Mike

Mike — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:48:01 +0000

Thank you for posting this. I am dismayed at how biased CNN’s reporting has been on this issue.

Comment on And leading the today’s parade of fools by Shariff_O

Shariff_O — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:46:44 +0000

You know, I’ve read his stuff on Vehix and other sites and I think you’re being kind of harsh ’cause he seems to like hybrids. I had a Geo Metro in High School a long time ago. It got nearly 50 mpg. Maybe he’s right?

Comment on Replacing battery packs by Douglas Johnson

Douglas Johnson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:54:34 +0000

Locran Roche,

The 1998 Prius was only sold in Japan, but a few of them have found their way to other countries by being imported as used vehicles. That is why you’re not getting much help from a Toyota dealer. Also, the main traction battery was completely re-designed in the 2001 model year, when Japan started selling the Prius to the rest of the world, so you won’t find any replacement batteries for your car in the US. You’ll have to look for salvaged parts from a Prius in Japan that was manufactured between 1997 and 2000.

Douglas

Comment on “God intervened” by Hobbit

Hobbit — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:45:20 +0000

I agree, and that separation of church and state was not properly
maintained during last week’s grandstanding and theatrics.
I have attempted to cut through some of this in my own perspective
on the overall Toyota flap:
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/storm.html
I also watched most of that stuff on c-span and it was hard
to give it much credence. I would, however, agree with Ms.
Claybrook that the NHTSA needs more funding and more clue, and
should also begin going after some of the human-factor problems
that plague our roads nowadays.

Comment on Want to see a 2010 Prius update? by Er

Er — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:43:18 +0000

Last Tuesday at 5 p.m., we got a call from our dealer. We took the Prius in the next day, Feb 10th, and the service tech performed the software update to the braking algorithm computer chip. Works fine. Never had a problem with braking prior to the 2010 recall. Eve had the oil and filter changed.

Comment on Replacing battery packs by sg

sg — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:08:56 +0000

The mileage is over 100K.

Please let me know how to screen good from the
bad cells and whether it is worth the effort

Comment on Replacing battery packs by sg

sg — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:07:37 +0000

My 2001 Prius is having battery issues.
It stops drawing from the battery (as shown
on the front panel indicator). The battery
needs new cells. I am going to try Toyota
one more time to put in a request to the
factory. Otherwise how do i know which
cell is bad and need to be replaced and
which cell is good. I can use electrical
tools such as voltmeters ampmeters etc.

Comment on Want to see a 2010 Prius update? by Seamaster

Seamaster — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:58:54 +0000

Video flagged as private – no one not on your YouTube friends list can watch it!

Comment on More news, well, not really by russell

russell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:37:30 +0000

Illinois and a republican. So now the guy who wanted to defund the NHTSA is in charge of it.

Comment on More news, well, not really by msirach

msirach — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:09:15 +0000

Russel,
You hit the target on this issue! My opinion and yours is closely aligned. Any hybrid (including Prius) accelerates, cruises, and stops differently. Consumers that purchase a hybrid need to be educated as to what these differences are.

I have posted several times that Ray LaHood should loose his position as transportation secretary. He is too much in the public eye to be allowed to make irrational statements like he did. Is he from the Illinois? ;)

Comment on Snowpocalypse 2010 or A Prius In Winter by SG

SG — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:24:39 +0000

Ah, that’s not REALLY a Prius–you just made one out of snow, right?

Or: Prius? What Prius? I don’t see any Prius!

Happy shoveling…

Comment on What Drives Us – Episode #1 by russell

russell — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:22:31 +0000

I would guess that will never be a charger for the GenII or the GenII Prius as it exists right now because neither vehicle was designed to act as a plug-in. Toyota has very carefully crafted the battery maintenance software and I would doubt they want someone trying to “top off the charge” ad hoc.

As for grill blocking, I have not done the grill blocking. I may try it. That said, a lot of people whose experience and knowledge I trust say it works for them. I would tend to believe them.

Why Toyota doesn’t do it? Well, the car performs the way it should without it. Like the “charging” issue above, keep in mind that Toyota has designed this vehicle to be as simple to operate as a standard vehicle and to perform within the specs they’ve outlined as it sits. There are a lot of modifications you can make to the vehicle that will increase performance that Toyota would never endorse. I also think the principal of keeping things as simple as possible, for costs reasons as well as durability issues, would apply here.

For a couple of bucks in foam, it might be worth trying yourself.

Thanks for listening to the podcast!

Comment on What Drives Us – Episode #1 by Kweksma

Kweksma — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:22:19 +0000

a few questions:

* do you have any idea if there will ever be an aftermarket charger for Prius 2/3. I do a lot of very short trips (less than 5 miles, to thje trainstation), and if my battery was fully loaded in the morning, it would save a significant amount of fuel.

* on the grill blocking: If this is so effective, why doesn’t Toyota pick this up and make an automatich grill blocker? That shouldn’t be too difficult to fabricate a slit with a little motor, that is linked to the motor management system, wouldn’t add that much to the price of the car.

Comment on Mr. Roadshow takes on Prius HID problems by Gary Plotz

Gary Plotz — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:43:46 +0000

Same problem will my 2007 Prius. Started with the the non-driver side. Toyota dealer (Service Department), MN in Mankato denied any type of headlight problem. Claimed the light was just burning out. Service Department said problem could be solved with a part cost of $9.95 per light, plus installation. Appointment was made and car was repaitrd today (Tuesday, January 19, 2010). Surprise was $300.OO plus installation for two new lights. Nothing was said about a potential computer program involving the lights.

Arrived home after the repair and saw the letter in today’s mail from Toyota finally admitting some problem. Dealer was closed before I could inform the service department of something they should have known.

We had some near accidents coming home from Florida recently, as we were uninformed why we were lost light intensity. Finally we were stopped by Police and given a warning. This all has been very stressful.

I think Toyota should pay the WHOLE bill. This was not due to normal wear and tear. It is happening most often to the non-driver side headlight first, then have some time skips over to lesser extend the driver headlight side. This is consistent with several other reports. I believe it is more than a light failure, it is an electric/computer failure resulting in light failure…and should have been covered 100% by my 100,000 mile extended warranty.

These kind of things can easily cause a fatality.

Gary Plotz

Hutchinson, MN

Comment on Mr. Roadshow takes on Prius HID problems by Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:23:19 +0000

My 2004 Prius is having the headlight problems others are having. They go out intermittently and will come back on when I turn them off and on again. It mostly happens with the passenger side, but both have gone out on occasions. I don’t want to just start replacing them like others seem to have done. Too costly! I’ve called Toyota and am awaiting a return call. I just want to know what the real solution is. Not just replacing the headlights and have the problem continue. I’ve also read the better solution is to replace the ballast and computer light control on both sides. Any input?