NHTSA Complaint #11242195 — 2005 TOYOTA PRIUS

THE INSTRUMENT PANEL DISPLAY STOPPED WORKING IN MY 2005 PRIUS. YOU PRESS THE BUTTON TO START THE CAR AND THE CAR STARTS BUT NOTHING DISPLAYS. YOU CANNOT SEE YOUR FUEL GAUGE, SO I RAN OUT OF GAS AND ALMOST WAS HIT BY A VEHICLE WHILE WALKING DOWN THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY. YOU CANNOT SEE YOUR SPEEDOMETER SO YOU DON'T KNOW HOW FAST YOU ARE GOING WHICH MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLLOW SPEED LIMITS. IT IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE AND TOYOTA KNEW ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND EVEN ISSUED A WARRANTY EXTENSION ZTV TO COVER IT, BUT THEY DID NOT INFORM ME ABOUT THE EXTENSION IN 2013/14. NOW THAT EXTENSION HAS EXPIRED AND THEY WILL NOT REPAIR MY CAR. MY TECHNICIAN AT AUTOMOTIVE PERFECTION DIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM, BUT TOYOTA WOULD NOT ACCEPT HIS DIAGNOSIS AND SPARTAN TOYOTA CHARGED ME $132.45 TO MAKE THE SAME DIAGNOSIS. THEY THEN TOLD ME A NEW METER WOULD COST ME $696.06 INSTALLED AND REFUSED TO FIX THE VEHICLE EVEN THOUGH TOYOTA HAS KNOWN ABOUT THIS PROBLEM SINCE AT LEAST 2012.