Serious & Catastrophic Safety Problems. Help, Stranded!

there's a recall for the steering wheel. it applied to certain 04 and 05's.. if i recall correctly. the steering shaft can snap causing loss of control. sound like your problem.

 

Sounds like you had a bad dealer and should've taken it elsewhere. I've never encountered "questionable, rip-off maintenance" w/my Prius that's almost 6 years old with >59K miles now.

Assuming everything you're reporting is legitimate, I would absolutely file a safety complaint at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm.

Regarding steering, yes, you should be able to see the recall info at Recalls - Search Results | Safercar.gov | NHTSA. Perhaps you never had the recall work done?

 

You can find out more about the recalls via Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

If you register aat Toyota Owners Official Website: Service Coupons, Owners Manuals, Service Scheduling and More, you should be able to view your dealer service history and it might show any outstanding recalls.

If your car has the steering shaft recall outstanding and you had taken it a Toyota dealer for maintenance after the recall notices went out, then that dealer was negligent for not informing you and offering to do it. That would be yet another reason to no longer go to that dealer for service.

 

The steering recall came out a long time ago. I had it done shortly after purchasing my 2005. It's too bad your dealer didn't inform you of it. Someone could have been hurt.

 

George, that sounds like a really tough situation. Have it towed to the nearest Toyota dealership. Make it very clear that the clockspring is broken as well as the intermediate shaft -- this is the cable that connects the steering wheel controls and airbag to the rest of the car. It should be a free tow and repair. You might want to start with the Customer Experience line at 1-800-331-4331.

Here is some more info:

May 31, 2006

WASHINGTON – Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles across the globe to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models, including its popular Prius hybrid car. More than half of the affected vehicles are in Japan, company officials said.

The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

In the United States, Toyota is recalling about 170,000 Prius models because the steering shaft assembly could become loose or crack under certain conditions.

Toyota said there have been no reported crashes or injuries connected to the problem in the United States. Owners are expected to be notified of the recall in mid-June.

 

Yes, the two faults are unrelated. The first to occur is just that the brake switch isn't adjusted correctly. If you had applied the brakes harder it probably would have shut off the cruise. Note that, in the Prius, the brakes are MUCH stronger than the HSD (drive system). So even if you had a catastrophic failure of the cruise, locking it on (which you didn't) you could have stopped easily. DO have the switch adjusted, as it applies the brake lights, warning drivers behind you are slowing.

DO call the 1-800 number listed above. Toyota will have the vehicle towed to a nearby dealer to have the steering shaft repaired along with the cable the shaft severed. It -should- still be done on warranty, even though your car is out of warranty. It's their (dealers and Toyota) fault you were not notified of the recall.

While Toyota -should- have caught your vehicles problems earlier the final responsibility does belong to the vehicle owner to keep it properly maintained. So you do bear -some- of the blame. Not being a mechanic or privy to Toyota's recalls (unless you were notified and ignored it or it went to the wrong address) you can't be blamed much for these faults, however.

A tip, for brake light care. In a -very- dark place you can see when the brake lights go on because you can see the "high centre lamp" come on in the rear view mirror, especially when the rear lower glass is dirty.

 

The biggest problem you have is you've lost confidence in the vehicle and don't have confidence in the dealership.

I wouldn't trade it in or sell it. You don't believe it now, but anything broken can be fixed. And The Prius can be a reliable and safe automobile.

If you've irrevocabely lost confidence in your dealer, try another. But personally with less than 30,000 miles on your vehicle? I'd just have everything fixed and hopefully you can slowly regain confidence in the vehicle again.

 

In a situation like this, it's important to recall that the dealer is not Toyota. In this country, dealerships cannot be owned by the manufacturer. Some dealerships are better than others.

If you have had service at your dealership and they didn't inform you about the recall, then you have a real complaint. If so, you should contact Toyota and explain the situation. At the very least, you may force some improvement of your local dealership.

Tom

 

I am assuming that you bought this car as "previously owned" (used). If you bought it from a Toyota dealer they should have run the VIN prior to you picking up the car and they would have known that the steering shaft had not been replace. The other possibility is this car was never serviced by a Toyota dealer because this TSB is quite old. So don't be too despondent it is not the cars fault this should have been fixed way before you owned the car.

 

I would, additionally, present Toyota (not the local Dealer wherever you are) with a bill for the room and any meals and incidental expenses while you wait for the repair. Maybe they'll pay it, maybe they won't, but you can't win if you don't play. Also, as a fellow American, THANK YOU for your Service!

 

Can You say Ayrton Senna

 

I can, indeed. Have to imagine it focuses a man's attention when he finds himself entering a hard left hand turn at high speed and the steering wheel detaches in his hands.

 

Was the steering shaft a recall? Unless a recall was issued an item in a TSB may never get written up if you go to a dealer. Unless the dealer has their computer system set up to flag all TSBs and the service writer writes it up you will never get the work done. If TSB items are left up to individual techs to add then there is even more room for it getting overlooked. Recalls are required, general TSB recommendations are not.

Mick

 

Yes. See Recalls Summary | Safercar.gov | NHTSA. If you want to read all the related documents, see http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/documentList.do?docId=06V188&docType=RCL&fromPublic=true.