Prius hybrids dogged by software

[losdiablosgato]

Prius hybrids dogged by software

Report: Internal computer woes reportedly cause autos to stall or shut down at highway speeds.
May 16, 2005: 9:23 AM EDT

RESEARCH A CAR
Get invoice and market prices, specs, reviews and photos
• Minivans • Sedans
• SUVs • Coupes/ Hatchbacks
Pick Category Minivans Sedans SUVs Coupes/Hatchbacks Sport Convertibles Wagons Crossover Exotic Luxury Pickups


Check latest incentives

GET A QUOTE
Pick MakeAcuraAston MartinAudiBentleyBMWBuickCadillacChevroletChryslerDodgeFerrariFordGMCHondaHUMMERHyundaiInfinitiIsuzuJaguarJeepKiaLamborghiniLand RoverLexusLincolnLotusMaseratiMaybachMazdaMercedes-BenzMercuryMINIMitsubishiNissanPanozPontiacPorscheRolls-RoyceSaabSaturnScionSubaruSuzukiToyotaVolkswagenVolvo
Pick Model



RESEARCH A USED CAR
Get used car pricing, reviews, ratings, and more.
Pick Year19911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004
Pick Make


Research used cars


Refinance Rates Hit Record Lows
Get $150,000 loan for $720 per month. Refinance while rates are low.
www.lowermybills.com

Compare Mortgage Offers
Up to four free mortgage, refinance or home equity offers - one easy form.
www.nextag.com

MyCashNow - $100 - $1,000 Overnight
Payday Loan Cash goes in your account overnight. Very low fees. Fast decisions....
www.mycashnow.com

LendingTree.com - Official Site
Lendingtree - Find a mortgage, refinance, home equity or auto loan now. Receive...
www.lendingtree.com




NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A software problem is causing some Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the problem involves Priuses from the 2004 model year and some early 2005 models.

The newspaper reports the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has logged 13 reports of the engine shutdowns, while Edmunds.com, a popular vehicle-information and shopping site, has had 13 individuals post complaints in a Prius forum. Some of the cars that shut down had to be towed to the shop before they could be restarted.

The newspaper quotes an official from Toyota as saying the stalling problem is due to a software glitch in its sophisticated computer system.


http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/16/Autos/prius_computer/index.htm?cnn=yes

[TlalocW]

1. Prius must be running Microsoft

eom

TlalocW

[trotsky]

2. Clearly this means that hybrids are doomed.

:eyes:

Consumers, resume buying massive SUVs from American car companies that are hurting!

We now return to your regularly scheduled consumption-oriented life.

[dbeach]

3. THANX for info

I own a 03 Honda hybrid and its 43.1/gal is fine..so far no major problems...a gas tank lever broke..free replacement... Good car..

I have been thinking of a Prius for my wife..BUT NOW..I wiill do mre reaserch..THANZ AGAIN!

[SCDem]

4. My Honda Civic Hybrid

is wonderful!!! No problems and no glitches and my current tank is at 49.5 mpg!!

[leesa]

14. So is my Prius. This is bullshit. Do you wonder why we only NOW

here of this as the competition heats up?

[trogdor]

17. So it's all bullshit.

The reports of people buying hybrids and getting substantially less than the advertised MPG. I suppose it's a function of how you drive the thing. If you're a tester for Car And Driver, you probably try to drive it like a race car, and of course, you'd only get 33 MPG driving it that way.

[hatrack]

21. I think a lot of the MPG stuff is due to EPA's static treadmill testing

They never actually take the cars out on the road to get MPG estimates, and they never drive the cars over 60 mph.

Given that, it shouldn't be surprising that the big green stickers tend to read just a touch high.

[dbt]

5. Now we'll see if Toyota learned anything from the "oil gel"

clusterfuck of 3-4 years ago. Several thousand 1998-2000 Sienna vans had engines begin to burn oil at around 50,000 miles. Toyota denied and stonewalled, accusing owners of not changing engine oil properly, yada yada yada.

Many of us had to replace the engines at our own expense while this company refused to honor its own warranty. (They finally agreed to reimburse us for the engines, but never admitted fault.) Wonder who Toyota will blame for the Prius problem?

I will NEVER buy another Toyota product.

:grr:

[leesa]

15. There IS no Prius problem...except that they are blowing

away the competition.

[EC]

6. 13?

This sounds like a smear champaigne to me...I've had my gas powered Dodge Intreped stalled because of computer problems, so what is the difference? This happens now and then with any auto these days with computer chips...so why is it a big deal with this car that 13 out of how many 1000's that have sold? I think GM or Ford or someone is behind this...

[SCDem]

7. Or Bush's "biodiesel" push

which is Ford and GM's push and supposedly their reason for not introducing any or limited Hybrid cars because they say Hybrids will be obsolete when biodiesel comes to play.

[yorgatron]

8. if any other car had that few breakdowns

it would be called highly successful.

[SCDem]

9. Yeah SUV Rollovers

that was all put on the drivers responsibility.... drivers shouldn't be driving fast etc. Has the rollover SUV really been fixed? Or did the media just stop talking about it?

[MadHound]

10. What I'd like to see is a biodiesel hybrid

It could be easily done, that way we could conserve on the biodiesel. Otherwise we don't have enough land to grow biodiesel crops.

[Sorwen]

12. yes

Ford, GM, and Chrysler have all developed a diesel hybrid car that gets close to 80 miles per gallon. But they have never produced the cars. They would be more expensive, and there's concerns that dirty diesel would not meet air pollution standards, but I would think that with newer technologies and by blending in biodiesel, a diesel hybrid car would be pretty environmentally friendly.

[MadHound]

13. Production costs would go down as more of these were produced

And quite frankly all they would have to do in order to run straight biodiesel is to change their fuel lines from the neoprene ones over to metal. Straight biodiesel emits only ten percent or less the amount of pollutants that dino diesel does.

I'm glad some company has at least prototypes out on this, hopefully they'll go into production soon. I have a biodiesel refinery going in about twenty miles away, and am looking forward to running biodiesel within two years, if not sooner.

[losdiablosgato]

16. The more I read about bio diesel the more I like it

Hybreds are nice but I have a friend who makes his living as a diesel mechanic. He has a work truch that has 300000 miles on the diesel and no problems. With what cars cost now days I have to have one that will last.

[trogdor]

18. The Golf TDI gets around 49 MPG.

Sure, the thing costs a lot for a little hatchback, but diesel engines last forever.

[sendero]

19. I dunno....

... my wife was planning to buy one (a Jetta TDI), a used 2001/2002 model.

By the time we'd run Carfax on 3 of them, I wondered why so many relatively new cars had already had 2-3 owners.

Upon further research, we decided against ANY VW Jetta, the anecdotal info about reliability nightmares made us lose interest.

We're looking for a Civic now. We'll settle for 35 mpg. :)

[losdiablosgato]

20. I am looking hard at one of the Jeep Liberty CRD

Common Rail Diesels. It gets over 25mph with the power of v8 in that Ute. I hunt, fish and haul a trailer abotu once every 2 months so I need a vehicle with some grunt. I think Bio diesel is the wave of the future.

[IChing]

11. CAN YOU CLEAN UP THE MONEY THREADS IN YOUR POSTS?