Transaxle Replacement

At 39,000 miles my 2007 Prius (bought new in January 2007) transaxle failed Oct 4, 2008. I was driving on the freeway and the master warning light came on and the vehicle stability control system warning light came on indicating I should stop immediately. We stopped and turned off the power. When I turned it back on all the warning lights came on and I couldn't shift into reverse or drive. We had to get a tow truck to take the care into our Toyota dealer. They determined it was a transaxle problem, but no details and it was replaced under warranty ($5k worth!). Are transaxle failures a problem?

 

Transaxle failures are a big problem. Fortunately they almost never fail. You just happened to have a bit of bad luck, which is why we have warranties.

Tom

 

how long did it take to fix?
did you have the extended warranty?
did they give you a rental?
with no extended warranty & warranty coverage of the transaxle at 60,000 miles
do they still provide a rental?

 

Considering how easy it is to total the vehicle, I would anticipate there being an excess supply of salvage transaxles for any who might have theirs fail outside of warranty.

 

DH knows of tw 2g prius transaxles being replaced. only one had an actual problem with the transaxle, the other was a guess from tech support. both in warranty.

 

Just had mine replaced at 115K. Fortunately, Massachusetts is a California Emissions State (along with 8 other states-------150K mile or 180 months warranty on transaxle and hybrid battery, eyc.) and it cost nothing. Just got it back today and have driven only 9 miles. So far, so good. It's performing very well. Hope it continues. If I had had to pay for the diagnostic work abd the replacement, etc, it would have cost 7K. Bought it in NJ (NJ is also a California Emissions state) with 111,600 miles in October and it sat all winter while my son was away at college.

 

Okay, so we had a reported failure on 10/10/08 and another one today. That's two failures (reported on PC) in a period of 32.5 months. I guess I can sleep tonight knowing that I've got at least two and a half years to go before another transaxle failure - hopefully not mine - occurs.

 

There have been other reports, just not in this thread. (But you still shouldn't lose sleep over it, especially if you have done "early" transaxle fluid changes.)

 

I slept like a baby.

I had the dealer do a "drain and fill" at 20,000 miles and sent a sample of the old stuff to Blackstone Labs. The results (posted here somewhere) were just fine. (I'm still glad I sent in a sample; it sets a base line for comparison with later sample analyses).