2014 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid electrical system problems

“I was driving on the highway during rush hour when a loud beeping noice began. My 15 year old cousin was in the passenger seat and began to check for the source of the beeping. I was driving 55mph on a busy highway with no safe shoulder stop. As I was preparing for the exit, the brakes suddenly became dysfunctional. The pedal was extremely hard to press down and I found myself unable to slow down the car in enough time to avoid hitting upcoming traffic. I found myself in an urgent, life threatening situation and needed to pull over into the emergency lane located before the exit. I could not just consider my safety, but that of other drivers and my 15 year old passenger. She is traumatized. I was able to get the car to stop with my entire weight on the pedal. Once stopped, I scrambled to find the reason for the sudden brake problem, checking if anything rolled under my foot, if the floor mat was loose, if the gear shift was wrong, even checked if I accidentally hit the emergency brake. Nothing was out of place. No new dash lights. I looked in the manual. I had no information. I went to jiffy lube and they performed a diagnostic test and informed me they are…”

“I was dropping my daughter off at school and the car completely shut down on me and turned off in the middle of an intersection. I have just had brakes and oil changed but ever since I got the car codes keep popping up and when checked it’s all good. Front lights keep glitching and even with new brakes there is still a bad sound. My dash computer thing keeps going in and out. It happens a lot more when it rains and makes a sizzling sound I’m afraid to drive it in the rain. I’m besides myself how the car turned off on me and my child we couldn’t move I could accelerate and we almost got hit then another light came on and I couldn’t even turn my wheel. Very dangerous”

“Good Evening, I'm writing to request a callback in regards to my 2014 Toyota Prius which is subject to a recall. "The involved vehicles were designed to enter a failsafe driving mode in response to certain hybrid system faults. Toyota has found that in rare situations, the vehicle may not enter a failsafe driving mode as intended. If this occurs, the vehicle could lose power and stall. While power steering and braking would remain operational, a vehicle stall while driving at higher speeds could increase the risk of a crash." I recently just moved back to South Florida, I was living in NJ for a few years and had the Inverter malfunction earlier this February, 2023, forcing the car to enter the fail safe mode described giving me the warning to "Check Hybrid System, Stop the Vehicle in a Safe Place". The car was at Toyota Universe, Little Falls, NJ for about 45 days, since this was going to take the complete replacing of the inverter and an update of some sort of software. After receiving the car back around March 17th, I moved back to Florida about 2 weeks later. This evening around 5:30 returning from work, the car stalled again while I was driving surrounded…”

“The air temperature was probably about 50 or 60 F. On a route I routinely drive , I accelerated up hill normally from 0mph to about 45 to 55 mph. I did not accelerate aggressively. Just after climbing the short hill, The engine suddenly loses all power. I had to pull over. I look under the engine to find five pieces of metal blown out of the bottom of the engine block above the oil pan and oil spilling out onto the ground. The car has about 98,000 miles on it and was maintenance regularly including on schedule oil changes, coolant change, state inspections. There were no check engine lights or electronic error codes to indicate anything was wrong with the vehicle which I would have been able to diagnose and possibly fix. The car had been maintenanced in August/September for winter by myself. On the last maintenance, oil was discovered inside the engine air manifold and throttle body that had to be cleaned out and (The EGR was also moderately carbon clogged). I'm very dissatisfied with how Toyota handled my case. They called twice to ask when I wanted to schedule my next service appointment when they had the car sitting on their parking lot for three months. I…”

“Originally, Toyota issued a safety recall in 2014 to address the inverter defect in model years 2010 to 2014, an attempt to fix the problem on about 800,000 cars in the U.S. by modifying software that controls the hybrid electrical system. It was intended to fix the overheating problems. The inverter controls the power flowing between the battery and electrical motors. The inverter boosts the battery from 200 - 500 volts. They inspected my car saying it was in excellent condition. After, the software upgrade i had major problems. My original Prius battery with around 65,000 miles stopped holding a charge. My 12 volt battery also died shortly after. And my power outlets in my got super hot and spiratually worked off and on. And my driver seat gets hot when i turn on car even though seat button is off. I am sweating all the time. Plus, i have skin conditions and asma. I talked to dimitri, and they tried to charge me 1200for unnecessary repair. Also, failed to call NHTSA as promised”

“TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2014 TOYOTA PRIUS. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 75 MPH, THE CONTACT RELEASED HER FOOT OFF OF THE BRAKE PEDAL AND DEPRESSED THE ACCELERATE PEDAL HOWEVER, THE VEHICLE FAILED TO RESPOND. AN UNKNOWN WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED AND WAS FLASHING ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE CONTACT COASTED THE VEHICLE TO THE SHOULDER OF THE ROADWAY AND STOPPED THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TURNED OFF. AFTER WAITING FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES, THE VEHICLE RESUMED NORMAL FUNCTIONALITY. THE VEHICLE WAS DRIVEN TO TOYOTA TOWN OF STOCKTON (2150 E HAMMER LN, STOCKTON, CA 95210, (209) 751-4077) TO BE DIAGNOSED. THE MECHANIC WAS UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE FAILURE. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT WHILE READING THE INFORMATION FROM THE DIAGNOSTIC TEST, SHE NOTICED THAT THE INVERTER HAD NOT BEEN DIAGNOSED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE CONTACT REFERENCED NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V053000 (HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM) AS A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE FAILURE HOWEVER, THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE AND CONFIRMED THAT THE VIN WAS NOT UNDER RECALL. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 44,250.”