Continued from part 13
Michelle of Claremont NC (12/29/06)
I purchased a 2003 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 extended cab in May of 2003. The truck has 43K miles on it and has not been abused in anyway. At this point in time I have had to have the truck picked up four times by a rollback due to loss of control of the truck while I am driving it due to a number of issues. The main issue is the replacement of the crankshaft in which the keyway of hte crankshaft sheared off with this few miles on the truck. After this happened there have been numberous problems to follow costing me a large amount of money.

This truck has had a new crank shaft kit , oil pump, new fan, harmonized balancer, mass air flow sensor, crank sensor, cam sensors, resetting of the computer and of course all of the labor. The check engine light will come on and the truck will shut down in which it did this while I was traveling on I-40 at a rate of 65 mph and I lost my power steering which made the truck hard to control. The truck is leaving stranded and I can not continue to put this kind of money into a truck that Toyota will not stand behind when I contacted them. I have all of my service records for this truck and can produce them and provide them to anyone. In the crankshaft, there was no key there when it sheared off which allowed it to move forward and ground into the metal.

The truck is sitting still at a garage where the roll back picked it up and has not been touched for the third time. As of today, 12.29.06 I am contacting my state attorney general for help as well as the Federal Highway Safety Commission as this truck is unsafe to drive and is putting my life and my family in danger as well as contacting me local senators and local TV broadcast.

Toyota tried to make me the problem when it is not me, the truck is falling apart and all I want is for Toyota to admit they have a problem with this engine and repair it for me at their cost. Toyota of Lake Norman checked the truck the last time I got it back and said the truck was fine and two days later, it left me stranded again and I had to have a roll back pick it up at 7:00 pm on a Sunday night. I am having to rent a car for transportation issues so that my job does not become in jeapordy due to this issue.

I am contacting Toyota in California again today for relief and help if possible in which if they can not cooperate with me I have no choice but to contact my attorney for help in resolving this issue. What can I do besides the route that I am taking at this point? I will never purchase another Toyota product as my husband has had several and I thought at the time that this was the best product on the road but I was wrong.


Paul of Washington DC (12/27/06)
I purchased a new Toyota Prius in early 2005 - the Prius was supposed to get 50 - 60 mpg and my wife and I have never even gotten close. We average arounf 27-28 mpg. I never would have purchased the car if I knew we would have gotten such poor mileage

We have payed double for gas and we would not have paid the $26K for this new car if we new that the mileage claims were false. We would have simply bought a $10-12K used small car instead.

Louie of Sacramento CA (12/25/06)
Hello, I'd like to thank this website and Mr. Benton for the article on the Prius regarding the mileage adjustment. I'm a teacher, and I needed a lesson on faulty reporting and how a report can neglect information (like the drops in other cars' mileage) to make its biased case.

 

Mel of Encino CA (12/20/06)
Bum Report! Toyota could not report accurate mileage information about the Prius because they were compelled by law to use the EPA estimates. It's unfair to blame Toyota. As an owner of a 2004 Prius since November, 2003, I have averaged 44 mpg in the worst of Los Angeles traffic and 49mpg on California freeways. My wife and I are pleased with the performance of our Prius, and our worst mileage is when we make short trips to the market and the doctor. With a plug in option, we are certain that we would approach 100 mpg.

 

Robin of Fullday IL (12/20/06)
I purchased this great mid-sized car, and I keep running into misinformation spread by the technically uninformed or incompetent that keep me from enjoying my vehicle. My car is routinely within 10% of the EPA estimate, but some people don't understand that the EPA estimate is not a guarantee, and that personal driving styles and environments will affect that. What's more, I don't think they understand that 10% of 55 mpg is more variation than 10% of 22 mpg. But even if I only get 45 mpg in my Prius, that's still over twice the mileage in my previous car, greatly reducing our nation's dependence and foreign debt for OPEC oil, reducing expenditures to terrorist-friendly countries and improving our air.

I spend too much time informing editors of slanted and misleading articles in their papers or online articles. This is starting to affect my work and personal life.

Steve of Waseca MN (12/20/06)
The EPA has for decades been passing off as gospel their mileage standards for the US even though a vast majority of us have known all along that they rarely come close to real world driving or conditions. Toyota and their Prius are now being used as a convenient scapegoat for the EPA's fantasy world mileage standards.

Any Prius or other Toyota hybrid owners who take the word of uninformed sources will be led to believe that theirs is the only vehicle where the EPA standards deviate drastically from the real world. This is quite untrue. If this concerted effort at misinformation continues it will negate any and all of the benefits we have gained by utilizing hybrid technology in the US by creating an unrealistic fear among potential buyers that in buying a hybrid they will somehow not get the EPA mileage, but will get the EPA mileage if they buy a non-hybrid vehicle. If a GMC Yukon's real world mileage deviates by 20% from EPA, noone will notice the difference between 8mpg and 10mpg. If a Prius deviates 20% from EPA, it is very noticeable.

Tony of Gurnee IL (12/20/06)
I DO NOT consistently achieve the current Environmental Protection Agency's estimated mileage in my Toyota Prius. The Prius is rated at 55 miles per gallon combined city and highway. Six times this past summer I achieved more than 60 miles per gallon during regular Chicagoland driving. I am disappointed and concerned that the EPA can not accurately predict the mileage that I achieve in my car. I am glad to hear that they are revising the rating system but am concerned that to properly estimate the capabilities of the Prius, they are going the wrong way.

 

Jessica of Dorchester MA (12/20/06)
My 2001 Toyota Prius started losing power in highway traffic resulting in a drop from normal highway speed down to about 30 miles per hour. It also started needing to be jump-started whenever I didn't use the car for more than a day. The dealer said that it needed a new battery, a more powerful one than was installed in the car originally.

They said this is a very common problem with the Toyota Prius, that all of them need this special larger battery. They said that the new battery, being larger, would require a special kit to install it in the car, and that this kit had to come from Japan. They said that I would have to drive the car around for three weeks with the problems continuing, waiting for the battery to be sent from Japan.

I had to buy a portable battery recharger to carry around in my trunk, so that I could continue to do my job. Toyota has refused to pay for this charger, which cost over $50.


If I were AAA, I would take this up with them, because not everyone would think of buying a portable recharger, and would just misuse AAA over and over. Anyway, I have to drive frail people to their appointments as part of my job, and the recharger makes it hard to fit their wheelchairs,etc into the trunk. I am also afraid of the car getting hit while on the highway during one of its slow-downs.

I do not understand why, if this is such a common problem, why doesn't Toyota corporation doesn't have a lot more of these new spare part batteries and kits here in the USA where they are needed. Batteries do wear out; that is normal; it is not some exotic part of the hybrid engine we are talking about, it is just the regular car battery that runs the lights, etc. It is not normal that a car corporation doesn't provide an ample and timely supply of a part that everyone knows isn't supposed to last the entire life of the car.

Shantanu of Wesley Hills NY (12/20/06)
Why such a harsh opinion of the Prius? In my opinion, people who complain about the fuel economy numbers just don't get it, or don't understand simple high school physics. The mileage of the Prius depends on how you drive it. If you regularly drive over 75mph, have a lead foot on the accelerator and brake, your mileage will suffer (as it does in other cars, but the Prius' mileage display actually gives you instant feedback). If you only take short trips so that the car never warms up to optimal operating temperature, your mileage will be less than advertised.

However, if you drive the car at or below speed limits, slow down gradually when you are coming toward a stop rather than speeding up and slamming on the brakes at the last second, and group your short trips to take advantage of a warm engine, you will get close to or even significantly more than the EPA estimates. With my driving style, I get 60mpg in mixed highway/city driving in summer and 55mpg in winter (it takes longer for the car to warm up). By the way, do you have any comments for how every other car in the world will have its mileage go significantly downward using the new EPA standards? Let's see some balance in your reporting.