Toyota Denial of extended warranty Nationwide
After extensive research we found out that the issues I've been having with my car were under an extended warranty that Toyota did not repair when the car was under warranty. It's a manufacturing defect and a safety issue. It's unfortunate that such a large corporation is willing to risk this and their liability.
It’s undeniable that the main advantage of owning a Prius is for the fuel efficiency, but I’m beginning to see there are more disadvantages to owning a hybrid vehicle. Many of us know the controversy of the Prius being an environmentally friendly vehicle. Prior to buying my second generation Prius, I did my research and know that the vehicle production is more energy-intensive and results in higher production emissions than conventional vehicles, but this is offset by the Prius’s lifetime carbon emissions. However, I did not anticipate the amount of repairs and the frequency of them.
I knew that the hybrid battery was an inevitable expense when I purchased the Prius. I was relieved to find out that there are alternatives to the estimated $4,000 battery replacement. Often times one or two of the cells are bad in the battery, which does not warrant a brand new battery - just a replacement of the cells. It’s unfortunate that Toyota does not offer such a repair given that the production of hybrid batteries require much more energy than producing a standard car battery and results in higher emission levels of gases like sulfur oxide. Also, the production of the battery relies on rare earth elements often coming from China who ignore the environmental safeguards during the mining process like removing topsoil and using acids that enter the groundwater.
The production and the disposal of the hybrid batteries have given the Prius a bad reputation. Fortunately in 2010 Toyota launched a battery recycling program which may offset the carbon footprint, but it does not offset the expense and waste of creating a new battery. This does not seem like an “environmentally friendly” solution to me.
It seems to me that Toyota’s strategy is to put you in a new Prius, but buying a new car does not resolve anything - again not very "environmentally friendly". Hybrid cars require more energy to produce than conventional cars, emitting more greenhouse gases and burning more fossil fuels during the manufacturing process. The production of hybrid batteries, in particular, requires much more energy than producing a standard car battery and results in higher emission levels of gases like sulfur oxide:
These more efficient technologies of hybrids often have higher upfront costs because the additional technological element and electric components in them seem to create more issues to fix and more difficulty to work on them independently. Toyota has a monopoly over hybrid parts and services for these vehicles making them much more expensive for repairs because they are newer technologies and basically have to amortize development costs over a smaller number of units produced. For example, the cost to replace the center multifunction display on the Prius runs anywhere from $1,500-4,000!
Since my car turned 150,000 years I have had to replace the Hybrid battery with an estimated cost of apx. $4,000 and the 12 Volt Battery with an estimated cost of apx. $450. Now I have a proposed estimate of $3,660.26 to fix the combination meter and the brakeactuator which seems to be a manufacture defect and is out of its extended warranty. The total cost of repairs for this would cost: $8,110!!! (This is not considering the annual maintenance and costs for expected wear-and-tear on vehicles over its lifetime.) The cost to repair a Prius is absurd. It's cheaper to buy a used Prius, so it’s no wonder that most people opt to buy a new vehicle. It’s unfortunate that we live in a generation were we think that everything is disposable and not repairable. I think we are going to continue to see more issues as we move to more technologically advanced vehicles in the future and these issues are not going to be cheap or easy to fix.
I have always loved Toyota for the longevity and integrity of their vehicles, but I have to say I am quite disappointed by their inability to uphold to their mission "To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience in America."