Why is it so hard to find parts / part numbers on toyota.com?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by indel, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:06 PM.

  1. indel

    indel Junior Member

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    Genuine Toyota Parts and Accessories: Official Online Store World Toyota

    Try these searches:

    - Transaxle drain plug gasket
    - Transaxle fill plug gasket
    - EGR valve
    - EGR Cooler
    - Hybrid traction battery (this is the term Toyota uses to refer to the HEV battery)
    - Transaxle coolant

    No luck? I thought so. The thing is that the search function on Toyota's website sucks, big time!

    Sometimes google helps. For example, type "EGR system parts prius 2012" and it brings you a link to this page, which then lists all parts of the EGR system on this car.

    https://parts.americantoyota.com/v-2012-toyota-prius--three--1-8l-l4-electric-gas/emission-system--egr-system

    But why does it have to be so difficult? Why doesn't Toyota provide a complete parts catalog by the system (body, engine, transmission, heating, cooling etc.) like other manufacturer such as Honda do? Why is Toyota so disorganized?
     
    #1 indel, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:06 PM
  2. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Timing is everything. A year or two back they replaced a pretty good system with what you see now. We all hate it.
     
    #2 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:12 PM
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    My curmudgeonly guess is that the old system worked too well. People like me were walking up to the parts counter already knowing the part to get and what its MSRP should be. Clearly too easy.

    Another, perhaps less cynical, story could be that they were paying SimplePart for the use of their old system, and somebody at Toyota had a twelve-year-old who had been praised by the schoolteacher for writing a generic parts catalogue system as a class project.
     
    #3 ChapmanF, Oct 29, 2025 at 12:51 AM
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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    I’ll typically Google the part, often the AI summary is spot-on, supplying part numbers and supersessions, or I’ll go straight to Amayama. With part no in hand I’ll sometimes go back to the Toyota USA site.

    and yeah, what was it, 4~5 years back, it WAS usable lol.
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Oct 29, 2025 at 5:47 AM
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