2004 Toyota Prius
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
Vehicles › Toyota › Prius › 2004
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
These records cover every 2004 Toyota Prius. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
6 recalls name the 2004 Toyota Prius. Newest first.
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2004-2009 Prius vehicles manufactured August 6, 2003, through March 30, 2009 and FCHV-adv vehicles manufactured December 12, 2008, through September 13, 2011. During manufacturing, a scratch may have occurred inside of the electrically driven water pump at the coil wire. The coil wire may corrode at the scratched…
The corroded coil wire may break and the water pump could stop. The corroded coil wire could cause a short circuit between coil wires and a possible open fuse, creating a stall-like condition of the hybrid system while the vehicle is being driven. This may increase the risk of a vehicle crash.
Toyota will notify its owners, and dealers will replace the electric water pump, free of charge. The recall began on January 17, 2013. Owners may contact their Toyota dealer or the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2004-2009 Prius vehicles manufactured August 5, 2003, through March 30, 2009. The affected vehicles have a steering intermediate extension shaft assembly built with metal splines that complete the connection from the steering wheel to the steering gear. These splines may have been manufactured with an insufficient…
Over time, the splines may wear and eventually fail resulting in a loss of steering ability, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the extension shaft and replace it if it is one with insufficient hardness, free of charge. The recall began during December 2012. Owners may contact their Toyota dealer or the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.
Toyota IS recalling certain model year 2004-2010 passenger vehicles. the accelerator pedal can get stuck in the wide open position due to its being trapped by an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat.
A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death.
Toyota filed an amended defect report on november 25, 2009, stating that dealers will modify the accelerator pedal and, on certain vehicles, alter the shape of the floor surface under the pedal. these changes address the risk of pedal entrapment due to interference with the floor mat. redesigned accelerator pedals will become available beginning in april 2010 and dealers will replace any modified pedal with the new pedal if desired. also, dealers will replace any genuine toyota or lexus all-weather floor mats with redesigned all-weather mats, or repurchase the previous mats from owners who do not want the new ones. additionally, software modifications will be installed on camry, avalon and lexus ES 350, IS 350 and IS 250 models that will ensure that the brake overrides the accelerator in the event both brake and accelerator pedals are applied. toyota will begin mailing letters to owners on december 31, 2009. owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331, lexus at 1-800-255-3987.
The intermediate shaft and sliding yoke in the electric power steering system can crack when large forces are applied and the connection may separate or the sleeve may fracture.
This could result in a loss of steering control of the vehicle.
Toyota will replace the steering intermediate shaft and inspect the sliding yoke and replace it if necessary. the recall began on june 9, 2006. owners may contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
On certain vehicles, due to improper assembly of the air bag inflator, which IS used in the side air bag, the curtain shield air bag, and the knee air bag assembly, some inflators were produced with an insufficient amount of the heating agents necessary for proper air bag deployment. in this condition, the expansion force of the gas may be insufficient to…
This may increase the risk of injury to the occupant in the involved seating position in the event of a crash.
Dealers will replace the specific srs air bag. the recall began on april 6, 2006. owners may contact toyota at 1-888-270-9371, scion at 1-866-548-1851, or lexus at 1-800-255-3987.
Certain passenger vehicles may be equipped with an improperly designed brake light switch. a silicon oxide build-up occurs on the contacts inside the brake light switch, which can make it inoperable.
If the switch IS inoperable, the brake lights will not illuminate and can increase the risk of a crash.
Dealers will replace the brake light switch. the recall began during december 2004. owners should contact toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Codes C1256 and C1391 ACC low pressure and abnormal leak of ACC press
The odometer on my 2004 Prius stops at 299,999. This is a known problem in the 04-05 models that was corrected in 2006. Leaves me unable to track miles for maintenance and other uses. This also has the problem with the entire digital dash going dark which means no speedometer or gas gauge. Making the vehicle almost unable to be driven safely at this point. I have reached out to Toyota and they verify that it was an issue with this year range but because I have owned it too long they don't do anything about it
During a hot period of summer, my drive selector decided to not stay in the drive position unless I held it there. I could make the initial selection of drive and then stop on the gas, but it would not stay unless I physically held the lever down in the drive position. I never had an issue with the reverse position; only drive. I could always get the car back into Park. This is an extremely unsafe driving condition because it happens without warning and the fix is not obvious. Once the driver is aware of the fix, it forces them into an unsafe driving condition: driving with one hand on the parking selector. Once cooler weather came, the issue went away. It didn't happen on all hot days and was intermittent. I replaced the drive selector in 2022 and have only had the issue come up one other time since replacing this part.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving 51 MPH, the vehicle experienced phantom braking and a loss of power steering assist with the engine overheating message displayed. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 154,079.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle lost power steering functionality but the contact was able to safely pull off of the road. The contact stated that the check engine warning light and other unknown warning lights were illuminated before the vehicle stalled. Additionally, the instrument panel went black. The contact stated that she attempted to restart the vehicle but the vehicle would not restart. The contact had the vehicle towed to her residence and later towed to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was diagnosed and it was determined that a wiring cable connector had melted onto the battery and affected the engine. Additionally, the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,200.
I need your help to get Toyota to fix 2 items: -ABS Accumulator: I understand Toyota at one time had a recall on the ‘ABS Accumulator’, that may have expired. At that time, I did not have any issue, nor was I aware of the recall. Now the ‘ABS Accumulator’ has gone out and is really hurting the braking. I had to get new brakes & they get locked because of the ABS malfunction. It is an expensive item – more than the cost of the car. I intend to keep the car for a long time, if Toyota can help me get the ABS Accumulator fixed? -MFD: The Multi-Functional Display (MFD) in the middle of the dashboard, has gone blank. It used to just partially blank out before, but now the whole screen is blank all the time, making it very hazardous to drive. Obviously, there is nothing I have done & it is a manufacturing defect, because it should last the life of the car. Please have Toyota fix the 2 problems (ABS & MFD). All requests to Toyota have gone unfulfilled. Your help is needed & will be greatly appreciated.
ABS failure. Won't pressurize. Anti-lock brakes quit working.
Toyota has issued time-limited 'Warranty enhancement program ZG1' instead of working with the NHSTA to issue a comprehensive BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY RECALL. ZG1 was explicitly in place only from April 2016 to Dec 2017, requiring dealer verification of an actual system failure prior to 31 Dec 2017. My failure occurred in 2021 and Toyota will not extend ZG1 for me (case 211015000390). Obviously the BRAKE ACTUATOR is a key safety component. Obviously this is a design flaw - brake systems MUST be designed to last the life of the vehicle. Obviously Toyota has had an excessive number of failures. Toyota is improperly using this 'warranty enhancement program ZG1' to avoid the NHSTA and to avoid responsibility for the poor BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY design. Per their letter to owners, Toyota was NOT replacing the BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY on a preventive basis prior to actual brake failure. Because of the importance and severity, Toyota should have replaced the BRAKE ACTUATORS via a recall. I would like Toyota to fix my faulty brakes at their expense.
Brake actuator went out and dealer said toyota used to cover it, but not anymore. I searched the internet and discovered this [part IS bad in most prius vehicles and toyota extended the coverage on the 2010-2015 until august 31, 2021. Unfortunately my car IS 2004 and does not get the benefit of the extension. The cost to repair IS almost $4,000. toyota knows of this issue and should repair my car as they are with the other years 2010-2015. this IS a driver safety issue.
All the instrument cluster lights continue to go out on my 04 prius. I don't know how much fuel I have this could be a safety issue. I don't know how fast I'm going this could definitely be a safety issue. And zero warning lights come on this IS definitely a safety issue. By looking on the internet I can tell thousands of priuses have this exact same issue with the instrument panel cluster going out. This should definitely be a recall.
My left headlight goes off but if I turn the headlights back off and back on it comes back on. The headlight IS not burned out. This happens while on the freeway in the dark while raining. This happens intermittently and not all the time.
About 1.5 years ago during a vacation. My car decided to not shut off. I drove to the nearest dealership that was about the close. They assisted and said to hold the power button down until it shuts off then turn it back on. This was a dealership in georgia. The mechanic had heard of the problem before. I recently had the front dash light go completely out. I did not have an instrument panel at all. The was not a way to see mph, gas gauge, warning lights, nothing. The center monitor stayed on. It took 2 days but it came back on. A week later it happened again and again came back on. Warning lights came on and I drove to dealership. It was the 2ND water pump going out. As I was leaving my dash lights went out again. I took it back into the prius dealership. They had paperwork stating there had been issues with the metered dash before. IS there a recall on it or not? I had to have a car and was allowed to leave with the dash not working. I drove to a gas station. After filling with gas the dash lights came on again. I had to pay for the metered dash part to be ordered up front because the mechanic said it may come back on. There should be a recall on this as it IS an ongoing issue. The mechanic even called it a short. Due tot he paperwork the desk representative had, it appears there have been several reports before on the metered dash shorting. Please help. I need the car and cannot afford these ridiculous prices for manufacturer mistakes.
I was driving approx. 15 mph on a street on 5/14/20 and was making a soft turn and heard a 'click' noise. Immediately after my steering wheel began to spin freely while totally disengaged from the front wheels causing total inability to control direction of vehicle travel. This caused a minor collision with rock /debris which caused minor front bumper damage. I then had vehicle towed to nearest mechanic who determined that the main bolt at the intermediate steering shaft and steering rack was disconnected. The mechanic checked the shaft and splines for damage and found none, then proceeded to reattach bolt. I was also informed by this mechanic that toyota had two related recalls: one for the steering shaft, and one for the intermediate steering shaft extension. both of these recalls had been addressed and replacement parts installed for my vehicle. There are two related recalls: 06v188000 (steering shaft) and 12v537000 (intermediate steering extension shaft). *tr
Headlights occasionally go out at random while driving. began with driver side, very intermittent, became more frequent, now also includes passenger side. both have gone out at the same time while driving at night twice. turning all lights off briefly and back on will re-illuminate the headlights. problem first occurred several months ago and has gotten progressively more frequent. now, once light(s) goes out during a drive, it will continue to do so repeatedly every few minutes. very dangerous.
Headlight go out daily and happens while driving at night from work, they turn back on switch on and off
Combination meter IS black 90% of the time. Restarting engine or disconnecting battery only works on occasion. Have safety concerns.
When stopping suddenly sometimes the brakes on my 2004 prius would not respond immediately as they should. They would release the calipers completely and the only way to stop would be to let off the brakes and press them again. It does not happen often but it IS regular enough that this has always concerned me very much. Today I was following a car who slammed on their brakes very suddenly and therefor I also had to slam on my brakes. This same issue occurred and I did not have time to release the brakes and press them again causing me to hit the back of the car that I was following. I maintain my cars very well and this car was in top condition with brand new tires. The brakes do not even activate enough to squeal or leave any rubber behind. There IS no way that I could possibly have stopped in time. This IS not safe and needs to be resolved for other people who have these cars.
Brake actuator assembly malfunctioned, and had to be replaced, just as predicted in toyota's warranty enhancement ZG1. Toyota knows the part IS defective, but they refused to replace it until it failed, and mine did not fail until after the extended warranty deadline. This failure happened on I-45 near madisonville and I had to pull off the road because a warning light brake light went on.
When driving down the road all of a sudden we tried to use the brakes and it felt like we only had 10% of our braking ability. The brake light came on and ABS light went on and the stability control light came on as well as a warning buzzer. it felt like we had manual brakes.
TL* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact stated that the power steering warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was serviced per nhtsa campaign number: 12v537000 (steering) by balise toyota (1399 riverdale st, west springfield, ma 01089, (413) 306-3037), but the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The contact mentioned that the power steering warning indicator illuminated after the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 138,000.
I am the owner of a 2004 prius. After buying my car used 2 years ago I noticed that once in awhile the display, including fuel consumption, speedometer, odometer, and more, would not light up and that the car would not turn off easily several times I have been in situations where I have little gas an am unable to see my gas gauge or know how fat iam going on the highway. I understand that this was once covered by toyota under the warranty extension but IS not considered a safety concern. The warranty extension IS expired. In what universe are a functioning fuel gauge and speedometer not considered a safety concern? I am also concerned that this will deteriorate further and cause an accident.
(Combination meter problem) while driving at night on the freeway the entire instrument panel (dash board) started blinking on and off. For our safety, we decided to slow down and exit the freeway and stop in a safe area. we turned the ignition off, then started the car, with nothing appearing on the instrument panel beside the check engine light. We lost the speedometer, all gauges and all the electrical and electronics which normally helps to guide our driving.we had to take the car to the toyota dealer the following morning which took seven days to replace the combo meter. I later found out that this issue IS not knew and there was a letter issued by toyota titled (2004 to certain 2009 model year prius vehicles combination meter warranty enhancement notice). The letter stated that they had problems with some of these prius year models and that if the owner did not experience this condition to file the letter in their vehicle's owner's warranty information booklet. here IS my request: this should not be a warranty issue but should have been a safety recall as depending of the number of miles the vehicle IS driven, this issue seems to sooner or later occur. I repaired my vehicle and paid for all the repairs, all I need now IS for the nhtsa to look into this problem, investigate it and have toyota send a recall letter rather than an extended warranty. This way I can receive a reimbursement for the repairs. here IS a link to the letter and all consumers complaints: https://www.toyoheadquarters.com/threads/2004-2009-toyota-prius-combination-meter-warranty-extension-ztv.174/ I believe for the safety of all prius drivers in the USA, this should be changed to a recall since many of these model and year prius vehicles are still on the road and will reach a certain mileage to make to combination meter fail.
Takata recall vehicle needs to have brake actuator. bg brake fluid service.
While driving, the ABS, vcs and red brake light all came on. Had it towed to the dealership and was told the brake actuator needed to be replaced for $3,000. It was diagnosed as: replace brake accumulator assy. (Brake accumulator assy. Leak/ low pressure (c1256, c1391))
ABS actuator failures. Effecting the braking.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a January 2013 defect petition requesting that it open an investigation on Model Year (MY) 2004-2009 Toyota Prius vehicles to address a possible manufacturing safety defect related to the steering column intermediate shaft.During the defect petition evaluation, ODI: 1.Reviewed the petition and its enclosures; 2.Reviewed the subject steering system layout; 3.Examined the Petition Vehicle?s history, including its repair history; 4.Reviewed and followed-up potentially related consumer complaints; 5.Assessed Safety Recalls 06V-188 and 12V-537; and, 6.Requested and examined complaint, claim, field report, service history, and warranty information from Toyota.ODI's review revealed that the petition vehicle had been recalled (Recall 06V188) to remedy a defect in the system identified in the petition with the remedy taking place prior to the failure that prompted the petition. Circumstances point to incorrect reassembly of the petitioner's vehicle by those who performed the recall remedy.ODI examined the issues raised by this petition to identify any related safety defect trend in the general subject vehicle population.That review identified a low rate of related consumer complaints (twenty-five over a eight year period from a population of over 600,000 vehicles) and no pattern that would identify either a safety defect not already covered by the two existing steering safety recalls by Toyota or a systematic problem with either recall remedy.Based on this evaluation, ODI does not believe that additional investigation will lead to a finding that a defect related to motor vehicle safety exists in the subject vehicles. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA?s limited resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is denied. The denial of this petition does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.For more information, see the Federal Register notice in the public file for this action (https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls#vehicle, select NHTSA ID, enter: DP13001)The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed on-line (https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls#vehicle) under the following NHTSA ID numbers:10407520, 10418710, 10429551, 10473654, 10478195, 10478053, 10437229, 10489425, 10510722, 10639984, 10648277, 10499778, 10712626, 10723196, 10787530, 10808124, 10838803, 11071646, 11098144, 11099507, 11102659, 11160767, 11192607, 11287550, 11287606
Odi opened pe05-029 based on 33 reports of alleged gasoline engine stalling on the subject vehicles.the subject vehicles are gasoline/ electric hybrid vehicles that can be operated in gasoline or electric modes, or a combination of both depending on the power demand.all reports allege that the gasoline engine shut down suddenly without warning.some of the complainants reported that the vehicle continued to operate using the electric mode for a period of time after the gas engine stalled and some reported that the vehicle shut down at the same time that they felt the gas engine stalled.some consumers reported that they were able to restart the vehicle either immediately or after allowing the vehicle sit for a short time, whereas others reported that they had their vehicle towed.during pe05-029, additional failure data was identified as noted in the failure report summary above.the complaint data represents incidents where engine stalling was alleged or where the vehicle was alleged to have one of the various conditions that causes the gas engine to stall.in its august 26, 2005 response to odi's information request, toyota identified various conditions that could cause the subject vehicles to experience a gas engine stall.if this happens, the driver IS alerted by an audible sound and various warning lights.the vehicle will continue to operate in the electric mode and the electrically-powered brake and steering operation will continue to function normally. Analysis of the warranty data indicated that over 97% of vehicles experiencing a gas engine stall resulted from an issue with the program logic in the electronic control module (ecm) system, which may cause the ecm system to not start the gas engine when required.as a result, the vehicle will enter the limited operation mode described above.the majority of the odi complaints also indicated that the driver experienced this condition in conjunction with the engine stall. During october 2005, toyota informed odi that it would initiate a special service campaign (ssc) to reprogram the ecm software on approximately 75,000 my 2004 and early 2005 subject vehicles to address the gas engine stalling condition.during this ssc, dealers will also apply special dielectric grease to a transaxle connector to prevent water intrusion which may also cause similar limited operation conditions.based on odi's analysis, this remedy should address most of the incidents resulting in a limited operation mode.given these circumstances, further use of the agency resources in this matter does not appear to be warranted.accordingly, this investigation IS closed.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist.the agency will continue to monitor complaints and other information relating to the alleged defect in the subject vehicles and take further action in the future if warranted.
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.