NHTSA Complaint #10743390 — 2006 TOYOTA PRIUS

I WAS DRIVING MY HUSBAND TO WORK WHEN I NOTICED THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WAS COMPLETELY DARK. TRIED TURNING THE CAR OFF AND THEN ON AGAIN WITH NO EFFECT -- PANEL WAS STILL DARK. IT'S PARTICULARLY WORRISOME THAT I HAD NO SPEEDOMETER TO TELL HOW FAST I WAS GOING, NOR WOULD ANY OF THE OTHER INDICATOR LIGHTS COME ON. WHEN I TRIED TO TURN THE CAR OFF A SECOND TIME, IT WOULDN'T POWER DOWN, AND I COULDN'T EXTRACT THE KEY. I COULDN'T EVEN LOCK THE CAR SO I COULD LEAVE IT THERE TO SEEK AID. IN DOING RESEARCH, I FOUND THAT THIS IS A KNOWN FAULT WITH THE COMBINATION METER AND TOYOTA KNOWS THIS IS A PROBLEM AND ISSUED A WARRANTY EXTENSION. HOWEVER, THEIR WARRANTY ONLY COVERED CARS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING THE PROBLEM WHEN THE LETTER WENT OUT AND DURING A SPECIFIED DATE RANGE, IRREGARDLESS OF MILEAGE. THEY WOULD NOT HAVE REPLACED THE PART DURING THE WARRANTY EXTENSION BECAUSE I HAD NOT YET EXPERIENCED THE PROBLEM, AND NOW THEY REFUSE TO REPLACE THE DEFECTIVE PART BECAUSE MY EXPERIENCE HAPPENED 4 MONTHS AFTER THEIR ARBITRARY CUT-OFF DATE. A FAULTY PART IS A FAULTY PART AND SHOULD BE REPLACED WHEN THEY KNOW IT'S A PROBLEM. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE A TIME LIMIT. THE CAR IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW FAST YOU ARE DRIVING, HOW MUCH GAS YOU HAVE, ETC. AND YOU CAN'T SHUT IT DOWN OR LOCK IT EITHER....UPDATED 08/25/15 *BF UPDATED 12/3/2015 *JS