MFD issues on '04/'05 Prius

[StuartS]

[quote]
Got a preformated response:
Subject Prius MFD replacements Discussion Thread Response (James) 06/19/2007 02:14 PM Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. We apologize for the concern you are experiencing regarding the MFD and we regret to hear of your dissatisfaction in this matter.

The warranty coverage for the MFD is three years / 36,000 miles, whichever comes first from the vehicle’s date of first use. Once the vehicle is outside of these warranty guidelines the cost of repairs becomes the owner’s responsibility.

However, in the interest of customer satisfaction, we may review individual requests even when the factory warranty has expired. A review of this sort is handled by our corporate contact, the Customer Relations Manager at your local Toyota dealership. The Customer Relations Manager will take into consideration a number of factors such as:

• Vehicle age and mileage in comparison to the manufacturer’s original warranty
• Nature of repair
• Inspection of the affected parts
• Maintenance and repair history

If this type of assistance can be offered, the Customer Relations Manager at your local Toyota dealership would coordinate it with Toyota, following Toyota’s guidelines and procedures. We feel confident that he or she will address any concerns in a courteous and professional manner.

We also invite you to review our Warranty Coverage FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) regarding the warranty parameters for your vehicle.

Your email has been documented at our National Headquarters under file #200706191325. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Toyota Customer Experience


To say the least Toyotas reply is somewhat disingenuous since there's been a TSB (EL002-05 dated 10 January 2005) in existance for nearly 3 years. It's known problem which Toyota chose to keep from their Customers. Mine failed some 6 weeks outside of the warranty and the best they would do for me was to sell me a replacement at reduced price, total bill to replace just over £900.

I continue to be impressed with the Prius but am increasingly becoming less impressed with Toyota as a company. Reslult - I cancelled plans to purchase a replacement Prius, I'll run my present one and see what alternative low emmission cars come to the UK market.

StuartS

[drifty1955]

If its the solder joints failing I'd sure like to get a shot at one because I'm an Electronic's Engineer by trade and do micro soldering just about everyday. Most new equipment failure is either bad solder quality and or capacitors.
Living here in Florida its easy to see the heat punishment that MFD must get too protruding from the dash like that. I keep mine covered in flight by a nice fitting hood I bought on eBay and a dashcover and make sure I use the excellent Heatshield Window Shade I bought here on the accessories section when parked. That window shade is excellent and is really heavy duty and fits perfect. Excellent deal at $30.

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifty'sDad @ Sep 18 2007, 09:51 PM) [snapback]514616[/snapback]</div>

If its the solder joints failing I'd sure like to get a shot at one because I'm an Electronic's Engineer by trade and do micro soldering just about everyday. Most new equipment failure is either bad solder quality and or capacitors.
Living here in Florida its easy to see the heat punishment that MFD must get too protruding from the dash like that. I keep mine covered in flight by a nice fitting hood I bought on eBay and a dashcover and make sure I use the excellent Heatshield Window Shade I bought here on the accessories section when parked. That window shade is excellent and is really heavy duty and fits perfect. Excellent deal at $30. [/b]

Hobbit is trying to get his hands on one of these too to try to fix it. Maybe b/w the two of you you can find a fix.

[p626808]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Sep 18 2007, 10:54 PM) [snapback]514620[/snapback]</div>

Hobbit is trying to get his hands on one of these too to try to fix it. Maybe b/w the two of you you can find a fix.
[/b]

Meeting up with Hobbit to give him my old one on Friday..

So hopefully we will have an answer soon..

Scott

[hobbit]

and if I can't find it, I can bring it south in December and maybe
Drifty's and I can noodle over it together...
.
_H*

[Prinux]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(westofrome @ Sep 15 2007, 10:10 PM) [snapback]513172[/snapback]</div>

This just happened to my late 05 Prius with about 27000 miles on it. So still under warranty.

"air conditioner disconnected"; says radio off when it's on; 5 second lag on buttons; no data on milage screen; etc.

Is there nothing I can do beyond bringing it in?
[/b]

For what it's worth, our now-defunct-thanks-to-an-accident-04 also had its MFD replaced. I don't recall what the mileage was at replacement, but it was under the 3 year/36k (it only had 45k miles on it at its demise).

We were on the highway, switched on the A/C, and the radio would change stations. The screen was pretty much unresponsive, and we also had no data for mileage/consumption, just as described above. Car DROVE just fine, but it was a little disconcerting.

Toyota was decent about the whole thing, but I think the warranty had a lot to do with it. It took a good 3-4 days to replace, though, as it wasn't a part they had handy. It did have our techs scratching their heads, as they hadn't seen it before.

Didn't realize that so many people had an issue with it. Interesting.

shoe

[hobbit]

Hey shoe -- which shop?
.
_H*

[abq sfr]

I'm wondering if the MFD failures are due to the same leaking capacitors that came out of Taiwan at around those years. Lots of computer companies and motherboard manufacturers were stung by this, Dell probably got tens of thousands of mobo's returned due to this. I bought my sister a dvd player from around that time period and it quit working around a year later. I took off the cover and looked at the power supply and guess what? Leaking caps. More info... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

[jbiondo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(p626808 @ Aug 23 2007, 08:36 AM) [snapback]500979[/snapback]</div>

Hey hobbit...
It looks like I a going to get a used one..
If that is the case.. you are welcome to the old one..

will let you know..
[/b]

Hi,
I am VERY interested in finding the root cause behind this, as I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, and have a malfunctioning MFD on my 2004 Prius with about 87K miles on it. Got the stiff arm from my local Toyota dealer, and don't want to spend $2000 (their quote) on a refurbed unit. Anyone who has a used one, I'm interested.

[flocculus]

I'm afraid I've just joined the legions of failed-MFDers, at 60K miles. I have the Platinum Extra Care warranty in effect, but the dealer is saying it is not covered and quoting the usual prices. We'll see about that.

But I, too, am interested in the cause of this issue for preventive reasons. Will this happen again on the ones we are all getting replaced? Would it be helpful to leave the MFD off most of the time? Is it helpful to protect the MFD from the sun? This inquiring mind wants to know! Kudos to those working on it!

John