NHTSA Complaint #10122371 — 2004 TOYOTA PRIUS

SUMMARY: INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE DIED WHILE DRIVING. LOTS OF INDICATOR LIGHTS ON DASH, AND MESSAGE APPEARED ON MULTIFUNCTION DISPLAY. WAS ABLE TO GET TO A SAFE LOCATION ON BATTERY-ONLY POWER. DETAILS: DRIVING HOME FROM TOWN (ABOUT 10 MILES). CAR WAS BEHAVING NORMALLY, AND HAD BEEN DRIVEN APPROX 30 MILES EARLIER TODAY WITH NO ISSUES. JUST BEFORE WE GOT HOME, THE FOLLOWING LIGHTS CAME ON (I RECORDED THEM EXACTLY): (1) RED TRIANGLE (MASTER WARNING LIGHT), (2) ENGINE CHECK (AMBER), (3) BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING (AMBER EXCLAMATION POINT IN PARENTHESES), (4) VSC, (5) HYBRID SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT (THIS WAS ALSO INDICATED ON THE LCD SCREEN). LCD HAD A MESSAGE ON IT WHICH I DID NOT RECORD EXACTLY (IT WAS SOMETHING GENERIC LIKE "THERE IS A PROBLEM"). THE INFO SCREEN WAS INDICATING THAT WE WERE RUNNING ON BATTERY ONLY, AND THE CAR HAD VERY LITTLE "PICKUP", BUT WE WERE ON OUR HOME STREET, WHICH IS QUITE STEEP. THE CAR HAS ABOUT 11000 MILES, AND DID SOMETHING SIMILAR WHEN WE FIRST GOT IT. AFTER TURNING THE CAR ON AND OFF A FEW TIMES, THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE SEEMS TO WORK AGAIN, AND MOST OF THE INDICATORS HAVE NOW GONE OFF. (AMBER "ENGINE CHECK" IS STILL ON). AFTER ALL THIS HAPPENED, I GOT ONTO THE INTERNET TO SEE IF OTHERS HAD SEEN SIMILAR PROBLEMS, AND IT LOOKS LIKE THERE MAY BE A CLASS PROBLEM (I NOTE THERE HAVE BEEN A LARGE NUMBER OF THESE IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS - COULD IT BE TEMPERATURE-RELATED?) CAR WAS NOT OUT OF GAS (JUST REFILLED YESTERDAY) - GAS GUAGE SHOWING NEARLY FULL. VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED AUGUST 2004 (AFTER THE TSBS CAME OUT THAT IMPLICATED COMPUTER PROBLEMS), SO I'M SUSPECTING THIS MAY BE A DIFFERENT ISSUE THAN WAS DEALT WITH THERE. [XXX]. WILL NOTIFY TOYOTA TOMORROW AND REQUEST INSTRUCTIONS AS TO HOW TO PROCEED. *JS INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)