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Few problems with new 2012 Sport Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by sport plus, Dec 8, 2012.

  1. sport plus

    sport plus Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Just got a new Prius with the sport package. My o5 got rearended and totaled. Right off the bat, I noticed that the 17"low profile tires had a balance problem. The dealer rebalanced them; still same problem. I went home and jacked the front end off the ground and put her in drive and noticed that both of the front tires were somewhat out of round but the LF was the worst so I put it to the LR and it seemed to drive better but still had a out of balance feel.
    Went back to the dealer and this time told the service manager about problem. He drove it at various speeds and they rebalanced but the LR had to be "force" balanced. He also told me that usually, they wanted the customer to put at least 1,500 miles on the car to "round off the flat spots". This is a new one on me. Ive got less than 1,000miles so far. Then the manager told me that low profile tires weren't smooth anyway.
    To make a long story short, I can still feel something out of round or out of balance. The tires have a warranty but who's responsible for solving the problem. The manager is trying to tell me that I'm just gonna have to live with it.
    The other problem is noise at take off and just before stopping. I was at a friends house with a board fence on the drivers side of his driveway. I drove up and down the driveway with the window down and it sounded like a old timey street car taking off and stopping. A pronounced whine. My 05 never sounded like that. Is this normal?
     
  2. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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  3. sport plus

    sport plus Junior Member

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    III
    Oh yeah, forgot another problem. The vents blow cold air out with the AC button off. I noticed this with the blower on, ac off and the temp setting below ambient outside temperature. I didn't think the ac was on without the indicator light on. Whats the deal with this?
     
  4. maoira

    maoira Junior Member

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    Set your temp higher than the outside ambient temp and that'll fix your problem. If the air outside is cold, then it's gonna blow air in that's cold. AC will cool air coming in if its hot outside. it's in the 30's here and I run my blower at 72-75. nice and toasty.
     
  5. Willum

    Willum Junior Member

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    Five
    I have a 2012 Prius v and I noticed that if I turn off the ac button I still get air conditioning even when I have set the inside temp higher than ambient. I'm in So Cal and this was in really nice "fall" weather where I didn't need ac but still wanted air to blow in the car. I know this is an old thread, but does anyone else have this issue?
     
  6. priusbee

    priusbee Member

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    How many miles when your purchased the new car?

    The symptom sounded like someone test drive the new car and hit a curb that bent the tire or frame. My opinion is that if I purchased a new car, I expected the car to be new. This kind of issues does not exist for a new car.
     
  7. mad-dog-one

    mad-dog-one Prius Enthusiast

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    I have had a lot of new cars with various tires and wheels and have never encountered a wheel balance problem on a new car that could not be corrected with balancing. I don't buy the dealers explanation and think this could be a problem with a bent wheel or tire, like that described by priusbee. I would take that baby back and demand that they provide the four round wheels that you purchased.
     
  8. NargilFenris

    NargilFenris Junior Member

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    Ignore this. Miss read part of a post.