Gear shifter sticks and park button fails

Hi Evan,

Why don't you replace or repair the shifter yourself. This is a reasonably easy job.

 

Jumping in here and connecting a couple of threads where the same problem is being described.

My 2005 Prius shift knob/lever has developed the same clicking/sticking problem and it has gotten worse in the last week. Now when I try to go from park to drive, drive to reverse, reverse back to drive, I have to try many times and apply force to the knob just short of feeling like I am going to break the plastic. It makes a loud click/pop when it finally goes into position.

I went to Toyota yesterday and they told me that I probably had dirt in the groove where the plastic slides. They suggested squiring brake cleaner into the knob! I did not do this because brake cleaner removes paint/skin and I could not imagine how brake cleaner was going to help dirt in the grove.

After reading this thread I realize that the problem is not dirt in the groove that the plastic slides on. As I understand it now from reading all these posts the problem is warped plastic on the sliding "door" that borders the actual shifter shaft on its left side.

I found that breathing warm air into the shifter helps a bit... but it worries other drivers to see my head go down into the dashboard as I try to blow warm air into the knob area so that the plastic panel will move and allow me to shift.

I will call the 800 number on this thread. I, too, am cautious about pulling off the front panel. Nor do I want to pay $600-$1000 to have the knob replaced. Nor do I want to have an accident or get stuck somewhere with a stuck gear shift knob/lever. I haven't experienced the Park not working but I think that is because my knob is still moving. I want to do something about this before I have that problem as well.

Has there been any resolution of this issue? Is Toyota going to do something about this problem?/failure?

 

I just wanted to let folks know I just followed these instructions, snipping a small amount off the left edge of the plastic dust cover piece, and the shifter is working fine once again. Took about an hour and a half to take the dash apart, do the repair and put everything back together. Thanks so much!

 

Thanks to all for information on the fix. I submitted a complaint to NHTSA (see efusco's original post for link). True, it's just an annoyance for the alert driver who knows his/her car well, but this is an important design flaw that has the potential to create unplanned vehicle movement (as many of you have noted), which is clearly a principal safety issue. Let the folks at NHTSA know!