Hi,

A 'shade tree' mechanic in the Alabama tradition, I'm curious, it sounds like you may work on or with Prius?

Bob Wilson

 

You are in luck. It seems Toyota has sold out of Prius, which means they are in short supply. The May sales numbers were down 40% with only a one day inventory. You can probably find a deal to swap your Prius for an Avalon without too much trouble by asking around.

Bob Wilson

 

Well, it is official from Toyota Corporate ... if you do happen to have challenges filling your gas tank ... there is NO fix ... Toyota notes that 6 - 7 gallons at a fill up is normal, what is not normal is being able to acutally fill your gas tank.

I am perosnally astounded and saddened that this design flaw has not yet been corrected.

Here is the response from Toyota Corporate ... you will note that they do encourage comments from owners.


Subject
Re: Prius gas tank safety issues

Dear Ms. :
We apologize with your dissatisfaction with the fuel tank bladder in your 2008 Prius.

As your Case Manager explained to you, this is the design of the fuel tank and there is no repair available to change the design.

We appreciate you taking the time to let us know of your dissatisfaction with the fuel tank bladder because the only way we know what our customers are looking for is when they tell us, as you have. We try to scope our customers out in advance, by researching the market, conducting interviews, surveys, focus groups and doing our homework, but there's no better source than a Toyota owner who takes the time to tell us like it is.

We can't guarantee that a change would be made, but if it were, it would be driven by just this sort of honest communication.

We have documented your email at our National Headquarters under file #. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,


Toyota Customer Experience

 

My 2008 Toyota Prius has had challenges with both putting fuel and calculating mileage since I purchased the car. I have never expected the car's average mileage to be dead on, but close would be nice. I never expected to not be able to fill up the gas tank. Recently, I reeturned from a lengthly road trip. Still had difficulties filling the tank (this is now summer) and the mileage, when calculated by hand, differed as much as 11 mpg ... with the car noting the fuel economy was better than acutally achieved. I was only getting in the high 30's on this trip ... ugh!!! When I took the Prius into Toyota to have the fuel gauge recalibrated (this would have been the third time). Toyota told me that the difference can be up to 15 mpg difference and that there was nothing wrong with the car. While waiting for the car to be taken care of, I looked around the car lot ... I now have a 2009 Toyota Camry SE (my 1992 Camry has over 250K on it). No more worries about all the different issues I experienced with my Prius ... I am looking forward to seeing how my Camry runs! So long Prius and I do not beleive that I will be looking into hybrids again ...

 

I still say that Toyota just plain screwed up with the bladder in the Prius. There are other cars out there with an equal-to or better-than emissions rating that DON'T have the goofy bladder and all of the related goofy quirks. With that said, I have been rather fortunate when it comes to the gauge irregularities and fill-up issues as my experiences have only been minor annoyances compared to some others'.

 

Must be the same idiot that told me the brakes on a Highlander Hybrid and Toyotas are checked every 5K miles because they could be worn out at 5K miles. I have 35K on my HH and the brakes are shot and the majority of the braking is done via Regen and not even the brakes. The caliper pins froze and caused the premature wear (according to the Tech) and all Toyota says is Brakes are a wear item.. sorry but they could go as soon as 5K miles.

Not happy with theses idiots that handle customer problems at Toyota

 

I bought a used 2006 Prius last summer and we also have a problem with getting fuel in it. It is time consuming and a real pain to try to fill it all the way. I saw one article from a mechanic that said it is because of the way the gas emissions are blocked so I thought I had to live with it. I guess I should ask my dealer about it.

 

Always make an attempt to try another pump. Some pumps are more sensitive then others.

 

I do not know if it would help but I went to the autoparts store and got one of those caps which has a valve. I never have to remove the gas cap and there is only a small hole with a spring cover cap for the nozzle to enter. As soon as you remove the nozzle the cap closes so there is not much time for a flash back to occur. I happen to have a Honda Insight 2001 CVT but the solution may work for you as well. Let me know when you get 70 miles per gallon out of your Prius. hehe

 

I have just purchased an '05 Prius with this problem. Has anyone had a Toyota dealer fix the issue? Is it covered in a recall? How much did it cost to have it repaired?