DANGEROUS issue for Gen2 prius re steering!

Be sure to file a new defect report, to document to them instances of faulty repairs to the original defect:

File a Vehicle Safety Complaint | Safercar.gov | NHTSA

 

Faulty repairs? It was installed like 10 years ago. This just in nuts come loose.

 

Bull. If NHTSA is not going to allow spline wear to fail in a way that causes loss of steering ability, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash, it sure as hell isn't going to allow a simple loose nut to do the same. If one can force a recall, then so can the other.

On safety critical items such as this, there are ways to keep nuts from simply coming loose.

 

It isn't really hyperbole, my dad stopped to assist at a similar multi-fatality crash scene a couple decades ago.

It wasn't a car, it was an RV, thus a much smaller population to discover such problems in a given model. It didn't roll over and burst into flames, it swerved or drifted off the road and into the river just off the shoulder. Dad was not a first responder, just one of several motorists who stopped on the scene in a very sparsely populated rural area and provided additional assistance to the first police officer already there. In this case, dad spotted and kept track of one of the bodies in the river until others could retrieve it.

He didn't leave the scene until after a tow truck pulled the vehicle out of the river, and an initial investigator glance mentioned a castle nut failure on the steering linkage. I.e. something even bigger than an ordinary loose nut. I wouldn't have heard any subsequent followup.

After all that, he did not continue on his intended recreational day trip. Just went back home.

 

Ahhh....don't get me started on keyfobs!

I recently bought a vehicle and neglected my own advice which is to always get a spare fob or two negotiated into the deal.
When I got home and while leafing through the quick-start guide, I had my "Oscar-Sierra" moment.
Since my fob has both a proximity feature and remote start, it was the more expensive $59 plus shipping instead of $49....for an OEM unit....AND they are user programmable.

Toyotas are great cars.
Their dealers could use a little work though.

Good luck in dealing with yours.

 

I fired our dealer years ago when I found out they couldn't even change the engine oil correctly. Now I do ALL maintenance on my vehicles myself, most recently the transaxle oil and ice water pump/ traction battery replacement.. So is all that's needed to check for this condition just to check the tightness of the steering shaft bolts? Is there a procedure for this? Or is it just that easy...

 

Don't get me started... My Toyota dealer is a saint (despite using 10W40 which presumably was prescribed by the importer, but changed to 5W30 between the maintenance they did and me complaining about it a year later when I looked up the bill to see what oil they had used so I could add some). Compared to the Volvo dealers (plural) who are all incompetent*, money grabbing** idiots and my Ford dealer who managed to put my tires on the wrong way round, which I noticed when it started aquaplaning with a minute layer of water on the road... (Directional tires which expell the water sideways, but the wrong way round, the accumulate the water in the middle.)



* Me: this car is AWD. Mechanic: no it isn't. Me: look under it. Mechanic: Yes, you are right...
Me: issue is low power while accelerating. Mechanic: that's probably the swirl-flap linkage. Me while pointing at the open hood: this is the euro3 engine with the black cover, the swirlflap is in the euro4 engine with the silver cover...
Me: when doing the allignment: also change the two bolts. It is in the official Volvo manual, but they need to be changed, OK? Guy: OK, we'll change them. Fast forward a year when looking under the car: I had misplaced a nut on the two bolts in question and replaced it with a distinct other nut: and you guessed it, it was still on there. Complaints per mail were never answered.
** The wife: to you have a clip to clamp the diesel-return-line? Garageguy: yes. Wife: give it to me, I'll put it on. Guy: no, I'll do it. Wife: but I can do it, no problem, and can I plan a big maintenance next week? Guy, putting on the 2ct clip: yeah sure. Wife: what do I owe you? Guy, no problem, we'll handle that next week. Forward one week: bill for 400euro had a 25euro unidentified post on it for parts not linked to anything they did.

 

The 'clock spring' flexible circuit connecting to the airbag in the steering wheel could also be damaged. They're made to allow for the full range of steering lock to lock and not much more.

 

Around here tire shops like to claim they don't have tire X with raised white letters or white walls. Get the new tires on and walking up to the vehicle can clearly see the blue coating on the RWL or white stripe turned to the inside. "Take them off and turn them around!" Why would they lie about not having what they have?

 

Good Luck.
I would be frustrated that in the 1st statement they seem to be fully admitting that it was incorrect reassembly during the recall, but then trying to distance themselves from any liability by now changing the tune, and blaming a minor car accident.

If the accident happened after the recalls were done? You're probably stuck in a neither side can prove it scenario.
You can't prove it was faulty recall work, and they can weasel out by blaming it on the accident.
But it seems nearly common sense that if the recall work directly involved the components that failed-bolt, I would much more think the failure was born out of faulty recall work, than an accident that happened later.

You're being responsible in pursuing this and at least getting your story on record with the agencies that should have this reported to. Even if it results in you never recovering a dime.

 

Who says its a castle nut?

 

Yes a baby carriage. And also near an orphanage.

 

That was just one example, not a complete list.

 

Priusrust- Is there any movement on your issues?

Justin