2008 Prius shifts back to neutral & won't stay in drive/revPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 7:04 am

[elenah21000]

I have had this Prius for less than 30 days. Monday I get in the car put it into reverse and it goes into neutral. I had to keep the gear shift pushed up to make it go in reverse. Then I tried to put it into drive and same thing I had to keep the gear shift pushed into drive to make it go forward.
I then parked it and called the dealership. They had never heard of such a thing.
Made arrangements to to have it towed the next day. Of course that evening I started the car again and it did not do it again. I took it in anyway and they could not duplicate the problem.
It has happened about once a day since.
Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

[reverai]

Originally Posted by elenah21000

I have had this Prius for less than 30 days. Monday I get in the car put it into reverse and it goes into neutral. I had to keep the gear shift pushed up to make it go in reverse. Then I tried to put it into drive and same thing I had to keep the gear shift pushed into drive to make it go forward.
I then parked it and called the dealership. They had never heard of such a thing.
Made arrangements to to have it towed the next day. Of course that evening I started the car again and it did not do it again. I took it in anyway and they could not duplicate the problem.
It has happened about once a day since.
Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

Keep a video camera in the car and tape it next time...

Steve

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by elenah21000

I have had this Prius for less than 30 days...I took it in anyway and they could not duplicate the problem.
It has happened about once a day since.
Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

What is the odometer reading of your car? Is it still covered under the 3 year / 36K mile warranty?

My idea is to replace the gear selector lever mechanism. This problem has been reported by a few other posters.

I had the opposite problem, where the selector lever, when moved to R or D, would remain in those positions rather than spring back to the resting position. This meant that P could not be engaged. I replaced the gear selector lever, which is a pretty easy job. However that part costs around $300.

[OkieFlyGirl]

Originally Posted by elenah21000

I have had this Prius for less than 30 days. Monday I get in the car put it into reverse and it goes into neutral. I had to keep the gear shift pushed up to make it go in reverse. Then I tried to put it into drive and same thing I had to keep the gear shift pushed into drive to make it go forward.
I then parked it and called the dealership. They had never heard of such a thing.
Made arrangements to to have it towed the next day. Of course that evening I started the car again and it did not do it again. I took it in anyway and they could not duplicate the problem.
It has happened about once a day since.
Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

I had this same problem happen with my 2007 Prius just the other day. It was a 95 degree day, and I left my Prius running while I ran inside 7-11 to buy a soda. I came back out, flipped into reverse, and *bang* right back into neutral.

I held the shifter in drive and drove around the block a few times and eventually it corrected itself.

It happened two days later while I was on the highway. I had switched into the B position to slow down just a bit, and when I switched back to drive, I felt the engine die under the gas pedal and it slipped back to neutral. Had to hold the shifter the next 15 miles, and it wouldn't even go into PARK. Eventually, the same thing - I just drove around, releasing the shifter every now and then until it stopped.

I brought it to the dealership today, and they said I had a 'low voltage error' that was causing the problem. They completely refilled my battery (I assume they meant the little 12V in the front), and said that this should fix the issue.

I will certainly update if it happens again, but they seemed pretty certain that the problem would be solved.

[jcstone]

This just happened to me with my 2004 prius. I was pulling onto a highway and suddenly it wouldn't go. This could have caused a bad accident if there had been heavy traffic that day. I had to drive to work with one hand while holding the shift down into drive with the other hand. After getting to work and shutting it off, I restarted it and then it seemed to work fine. However, I certainly don't feel safe driving this car anymore.

[seilerts]

There is a TSB out on this. Shifter slips into N -- replace shifter -- T-SB-0142-11

Cold comfort, since you are way past the warranty, but at least it has the part number that you need. It is a $300 fix DIY or $500 at a dealer.

For you, or anyone else that this happens to, I strongly urge you to file a report with NHTSA. That is the only way that this will turn into a recall, and then you can get reimbursed.