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Odometer Security

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Michael Crestohl, Aug 2, 2022.

  1. Michael Crestohl

    Michael Crestohl Junior Member

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    I am new to the Prius world and am looking to buy a used one to add to my small “fleet”. One of my major concerns is the reliability of the odometer. How hard is it for some schlockmeister seller to alter the mileage? I know it is illegal. I remember back to my younger days and mechanical odometers it was “do-able” but it could be often detected if you knew what to look for. I have no idea how secure the digital circuitry is in these cars and if somebody who knew what they are doing could “spin the clock.” If it is what would a buyer look for?

    Thanks for answering my newbie questions.

    Michael
    2010 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (retired VT State Police)
    2001 Mazda Miata SE
     
  2. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    For a Gen2 Prius, "all" someone would have to do is swap out the Combination Meter (speedo cluster). It's possible to rewrite the chip, but much easier to put in a different CM.

    If you are looking at a car, get a Carfax report, run the VIN through Toyota to get their service and recall history.

    Also look at wear on the interior of the car- see if that jives with the odometer.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Wear on brake and gas pedals, the latter in particular.
     
  4. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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    Prius odometer correction / Prius combination meter reprogramming.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    and because the combo meter is often defective, there are a ton of used prius with replaced odo's.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    So, 30~40 years on from the days of mechanical odometers, rolling back the miles is easier? :confused:

    With the digital displays dying, almost necessity...
     
  7. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    When I was in High school, you'd hook a drill up to the speedometer cable and run it in reverse to reduce mileage...
     
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  8. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    The original Gen 2 Prii (I had a 2004) ODO stopped at 299k miles and the ODO had to be replace to track any additional miles.

    JeffD
     
  9. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I see this every once in a while. Is this just for 2004 and before? Or is 2005 and beyond?
     
  10. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    2004 and maybe 2005. There were updates to the 2006 that may have fixed the 299,999 mile issue.

    JeffD
     
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  11. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    It’s actually not usually illegal to tamper with the odometer; in most countries or
    states etc. what’s illegal is trying to sell it with a misrepresentation of the product (vehicle) by lowering the mileage and increasing its value. So it’s fraud and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe theft by deception if someone pays alot for one with very low miles tampered with. Few things we buy and sell literally say how much they have been used in an actual tangible number that can be compared to others like it. You buy a used TV there is no list that I know of- on some screen that says how many hours or days it’s been used. It’s just weird
     
  12. prius16

    prius16 Active Member

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  13. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    I said in most.

    also - if you wanna play with your odometer of your own vehicle and mess with it as long as you don’t try to sell it no one’s going to stop you or care. You just can’t try to sell it. All I meant.
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    in ma, you just check 'unknown' on the title for mileage. of course, an intelligent buyer would balk if the seller had represented the car with known mileage.
     
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  15. highmilesgarage

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    most cars like BMW or Mercedes has tamper proof indicators that the mileage was tampered with or doesn't match with what's in the ECU. BMW will have a dot and Mercedes will not show up the mileage. Typically it's not tampering when you're trying to fix the odometer, I have a Ford Sport Trac that has bad odometer (known failure) causing the fuel pump not to display correctly and the whole thing just shut off randomly. I replaced it with a working odometer which is 14k miles less and as long as you disclose the issue when selling it's okay. I sold it to my friend telling him that the odometer is not correct and you have to add, not sure if he disclosed it to the dealership when trading it so that where's the deception starts. Dealer will just sell it as wholesale and these smaller shops or guys from auction will buy the car without knowing the history and then resold back to the masses.

    For the mustang, can't swap the instrument cluster since it has the security chip in it, so you need to do more work on syncing the keys and immobilizer. For Volvos, the instrument cluster can be swapped without any issues. I have a 245k mile Volvo XC90 with 124k miles on the swapped instrument cluster, no issues with the swap. It was swapped because the lens is cracked and its better to just swap the assembly without messing with the lens and the instrument cluster look clean than the old one. I am still driving the Volvo because of its low mileage..
     
  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Odometer roll-back might also be for warranty reasons, and the manufacturers would care about that.

    It's too bad it can't be made bullet-proof, cus there's a host of reasons to do it, none of them commendable.
     
  17. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Odometer fraud does occur on older Priuses, it's sort of unintentional. People are just swapping instrument clusters to restore basic function, and winding up with inaccurate odos.

    Thing is, that's really only happening on the oldest ones, you (probably) wouldn't want to start there anyway. Writing this in 2022, I would suggest 2015 or newer unless you specifically want a project.
     
  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I recall our son had a Maxima with a flakey display, dealership replaced for free, set the miles back to zero, and there was a note in the records as to the miles it was changed at. No way to run a Navy, lol.