Electronics going crazy

My Prius simply stop working while my wife was at the the gas station. She put the key in the ignition and it wouldn't start and she couldn't get the key out. We had to get it towed to the Toyota dealer. They kept the car for 3 to 4 days and couldn't figure out what was wrong. This was almost exactly what happened in the post entitled "broke down 700 miles from home" in that the dealer could not diagnose the problem.

I have a 2005 Prius with about 35,000 miles and a extended warranty from Toyota which is good for 100,000 miles or 8 years from purchase. So I thought this would be covered by warranty. They finally called me and told me the problem was caused by "debris in the air flow meter", which caused the computers to malfunction?! The charge for this was about $375, not covered by warranty. I said okay I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. For a while the car work fine but then it started with the key wouldn't start the car until I'd walk around the car for several minutes. Called the dealer and he said it was probably just the battery in the key. The next day work fine so I went ahead with the car as is. Several weeks later my daughter had the car about 200 miles from home in exactly the same thing happen except this time the car started but wouldn't shift into gear and she couldn't cut the car off or get the key out of the ignition slot . She said that the dash display was also going crazy. There was no Toyota dealer in the small town where she was, so I had it towed to a local repair shop specializing in Toyotas. I called the number on the warranty for Toyota and they told me to get them to check the small battery, otherwise to get it towed back to Toyota. The repair shop had to order a battery from Toyota and a solid 10 days later. It seemed to work that day but the next day when they tried to start it again the dashboard went crazy and it would either not start or start and not shift into gear and then not shut off, the dashboard would light up or the car wouldn't start or any variation of the above. The charge for this was over $300, parts, shipping and labor. They finally got the car running. I had to get a ride to 200 miles to the repair shop. I was able to drive it back to the dealership who had done the initial repair. They took the car and this time gave me a railcar which I realized was part of the extended warranty. Is now 4 days later and they still don't know what's wrong with the car! It seems to me that a car with this many computer operated features, diagnosis would be immediate with the proper tools and experience, if you're seriously trying to repair the vehicle. My questions are as anybody having similar experience and how I get the corporate or main office of Toyota involved in this situation. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Sandy-this must not have been clear in my post. The 12 Volt battery has already been replaced, but the problems still persist.

 

Update-the vehicle was at the dealership for almost a week. The only error code that I could get out of the mechanic was C2318 Voltage Error Code. They could not find anything wrong with the car! The Catch-22 is that they could not submit a warranty claim because the "problem could not be duplicated". I was charged $221.06 for the service. Have had the car for 2 days now with no problems, but I have a sinking feeling that the problem has not been fixed and the car will be immobilized at the worst possible time when I need it most. From viewing other posts, it seems the problem could be either the inverter or the combination meter. Right now I see 2 possibilities. Either the problem was the 12 volt battery all along, which means I basically spent going on $1000 for a new battery, or there's another problem which couldn't be found by the dealer, and which will resurface. Again, does anybody know how to call or e-mail Toyota Corporate besides the general customer service number? I'll keep you all informed.

see the recent post entitled "my Prius will not turn off"for same problem.