Well it's been working normally and then about 10 last night I get home and shut the car off and called it a day. This morning the same symptom that brought me here last year has happened again. The car would not do anything. I immediately had the car towed and it's got the same fault as in 2009 when I first got the car.. Bad harness to hybrid battery. I wonder what happens when the car is 2 or 3 more years older and parts like this go bad. Can these things be made to run just on engine power or is the car just a recycle candidate when this happens out of warranty? How many owners can afford this repair once it's out of warranty and how many will be making payments on a car that they can't afford to fix nor be able to use?
Well, I don't remember your last story, but it sounds like you're assuming that they diagnosed and fixed it properly, which may not be the case... ie these may not be independant events.
They had the car in and out of the shop several times the first go round with this.. They wound up changing every harness, some computer unit, and 2 new hybrid batteries before fixing it, according to their paperwork. Is this a recurring issue on all Prius' or did I just get one of their friday built cars? Is there a way to make the car operate normally just on the engine?
Is this a recurring issue on all Prius' No. or did I just get one of their friday built cars? Yes. Is there a way to make the car operate normally just on the engine? No, it needs the high voltage battery to crank the gas engine.
Is there a lemon law in Texas? You obviously have a lot of documentation. To answer your question: the degree of problems that you have had is unusual.
Take it to a different dealer, one that knows what the hell they're doing, and have them perform your free under warranty repair. End of problem.
+1 This is a big red light coming on. +1 +1 I think OP's problem is rare if not unique. The dealer repair shop does not seem to know what it's doing. If OP has paperwork handy and post DTCs here then other experts may comment on the possible problem. Good luck!
They found damage under the car that caused the wiring harness to become unusable. Something hit the bottom of the car and I forgot about it because I kept driving for 3 weeks afterwards. It was my fault. I'm back on the road in my Prius, enjoying every minute of it.
"Say, that tree trunk and the downed power lines I ran over, could they have anything to do with this mysterious problem?" Sheesh.
