Toyota has issued a Technical Service Bulletin for the 2004 Prius concerning the unreliable gas gauge. Owners of vehicles that fall between the following VIN numbers should contact their dealers (as they will not contact you!) to request and then undergo the appropriate service, covered by warranty.

JTDKB2#U#40000001 – JTDKB2#U#40057579
JTDKB2#U#40057580 – JTDKB2#U#40078361

More information (PDF) here.

Jason,
Thanks for the details.
Are the TSB's available for the genereal public to view on the Toyota or other "official" web site?
I'm just wondering if these are available for the average consumer to view or whether these usually only go to service personell "insiders".

As far as I have heard, Toyota will not have individual customers contacted because of the wave of service requests they would recieve. I have not heard about any online reference on the Toyota website. This leads me to believe that such bulletins will only be spread by word of mouth.

I have just been informed that Toyota has technical information bulletins at http://techinfo.toyota.com/

However, it is $10 to become a member. Occasionally you'll find dealers who stays up-to-date through this sytem and tells customers their findings. That appears to be how the hybrid community was notified of this particular bulletin.

Thanks for passing the info along. My Seaside Pearl falls into the numbers. I will get my nerve up and call my dealer. I will let you all know what happens.

Jan P
Arizona
13,000 miles
50.3 average

Looks like $10 will only get you a 1-day subscription.

Liberty Toyota of Colorado Springs does not seen aware of that recall. They don't have email so I'll aska friend with a fax to fax the info to Liberty.

Perhaps every few motnhs, someone can volunteer to buy a 1 day access. I've not seen the TSB so someone who has seen the BBS can explain how to pull pertinent recall info.

infael

It's not actually a recall. Recalls require the manufacturer to contact all customers and have their parts replaced. In the case of the TSB, it is up to the customer to contact their dealers. I don't know if it's necessary to actually buy an accunt at the Toyota site... especially because they're not the only manufacturer! Online word of mouth will do the trick, I'd think. I monitor a few sites online for important news.

Jason,

My Prius falls within the VIN range for repair procedure #2 of this Technical Service Bulletin -- "filler pipe only". At the bottom of page #1 of the bulletin there is the statement "Warranty application is limited to correction of a problem based upon a customer's specific complaint". The relevant complaint for procedure #2 is "Fuel tank volume is not close to stated capacity".

My question to you is: do you know of anyone who has had this problem? If so, what were the indications of a discrepancy in tank capacity. I ask because, as far as I can tell, I have not experienced this problem. I do not let the guage go all the way to zero before refilling, so it is not something that I have specifically measured.

Do you have any advice for me about how to measure this without risking running out of gas?

I actually qualify for both services but have yet to contact my dealer.

How many gallons do you usually get on a tank? Multiply this number by your typical mileage and you have an approximation of your tank size. Now, if this is nowhere close to 11 gallons (for instance, mine = 8.5) then "fuel tank volume is not close to stated capacity." On my car, the "add fuel" message appears at about 350-400 miles instead of 500 or so.