Prius 08 Warranty Work

Greetings! Thought I would add my experience to the 'public record' by posting here.

We bought a Black '08 package #2 a couple of weeks ago. We were really enjoying the car and making sure to properly work it through the break in period. At ~600 miles, the VSC, ABS, Brake and (!) lights all came on. A few miles down the road, a strong unmistakable burning electronics smell entered the cabin. Upon stopping the car, smoke could be seen rising from the engine compartment. We immediately powered off the car in fear of a fire. Luckily no fire came. The next day, I was able to drive the car to the dealer, all the above mentioned lights still on, it ran fine but pulled hard to the left when braking.

So it has been at the dealers for a few days. They said it was the 'Passenger Side Brake Actuator'. It took a day for the part to get to the dealer, They spent all of a day trying to get their 'ScanTool Computer' to talk to the onboard computer so they can safely release the '1000 lbs of pressure' in the brake lines. As of this writing they are getting a 'fail' when they try to do this, so there are potentially other issues they have yet to diagnose.

A potential area of complication is the fact that the car was purchased in the US but failed while we were visiting Canada. The car is at a Canadian Toyota Dealer. Thankfully, they are willing to honor the warranty regardless of the whole Canada/US issue.

So, the issue has yet to be resolved, I'll update this topic as details arise. I really want to get back to enjoying our new car.

Cheers...

 

Resolution:

So, a few weeks have gone by, I have picked up the repaired Prius. The dealer took two weeks to repair the car.
It was dropped off on a Monday morning and reported repaired mid day on a Friday.

What was replaced? The Brake Actuator and a traction control computer were replaced. All covered under warranty.

I wish I could say that I am a happy customer, but I am glad to have the car that I paid for back in my possession.

My experience left alot to be desired.

The dealer that I took the Prius to in the Vancouver BC area, didn't seem to have any expertise on the issue,
and according to the service manager, days and days were lost during phone tag with tech support in Toronto. In hindsight, I should have made more of an effort to get the car to a US Dealer.
I don't think they sell that many Prii in Canada as they are typically 10 grand more expensive than in the US. Having lived in BC for the last few years, it seems the only BC Licensed Prii I see on the road are part of the Taxi fleet.

My requests for a permanent replacement car to Toyota of America were met with the explanation that Toyota's only obligation was to fix the car. If I want to engage in a lengthy arbitration process, I am free to do so.
This flew in the face of all the brochures and letters promising me the best customer experience.

The service manager, where I bought the car (Russ from Lake City Toyota, Seattle Wa) was very accommodating, offering a loaner car and promising to tow the car to the States if the dealer in Canada came up empty.

So I have the car back and will try to resume 'the new car honeymoon'. I hope this is just a luck of the draw situation: It will be interesting to see if other's have similliar failures on the 08 models.