Couple Say They Get No Charge Out of Their Toyota Prius Hybrid

Question: My husband and I bought a 2002 Toyota Prius hybrid in April. We thought it would be perfect for our lifestyle--great for driving short distances and terrific fuel efficiency.

Unfortunately, the car, which is propelled by a combination of gasoline and electric power, kept losing its charge. Twice my handicapped, 76-year-old husband was almost stuck in garages because the Prius wouldn’t start. Toyota ads say the car is self-charging and never has to be plugged in like an electric vehicle. That wasn’t our experience. Each time it died, we had to have it towed to the dealership.

The service manager told us there was nothing wrong with the car. He said we just weren’t driving it enough. We were told that when we’re on a weeklong vacation we need to have someone drive the car to keep it charged. It was like having a pet that had to be walked every day.

None of this was disclosed to us at the time of purchase. The salesmen never told us we had to drive it a certain amount to keep the battery charged.

Is this typical of hybrid cars?

--M.C., Century City

Answer: No, said Toyota spokesman Sam Butto. Your experience with Toyota’s first “green” car appears to be an “isolated incident,” he told us. Though the owner’s manual states that not operating the vehicle for long periods can cause the battery to go dead or affect it, Butto said the Prius usually would not lose its charge unless it had been idle for a couple of months or more.

Likewise, Honda’s hybrid, Insight, is self-charging and will keep a battery charge indefinitely, Honda spokesman Art Garner said. Honda has heard no complaints that the Insight loses its charge.

Despite what the Century City couple may have been told by a dealership service manager, Butto said there is no magic number of miles or days the Prius needs to be driven to stay charged. “The car should have been starting up for them,” he said.

The hybrid system in the Prius automatically switches the power in the vehicle to either gasoline or electric battery, depending on driving conditions.

For example, if you’re driving on the highway and need to accelerate to merge, the gas and electric motor work together to provide the power. If the car is being driven in slower stop-and-go traffic, the gasoline part of the system would turn off.

After the couple vehemently complained about the problem, the dealership agreed to buy back the vehicle last month. Though M.C. and her husband had purchased the car for $23,400, including tax and license fees, the dealer bought it back for only $18,300. The couple, however, felt they deserved a full refund.

“We’d only had the car for three months and it had 600 miles on it. It’s only $5,000, but we really feel it’s a matter of principle,” M.C. said. “Dealing with the car was stressful. We had been told if we just drove the car more it wouldn’t die.”

But M.C. said she drove the Prius one week every day except Sunday. The next day, Monday, the car wouldn’t start.

The couple went back to Toyota and threatened to sue in small-claims court if the auto maker didn’t fully refund their money. They also contacted auto safety advocate Rosemary Shahan at Citizens for Auto Reliability and Safety about their complaints.

Last week, Toyota agreed to give the couple a full refund, maintaining that the couple’s experience with the vehicle was an isolated one.

Their particular car probably was a lemon, Shahan said, adding that customers typically have been pleased with the Prius. This was the first such complaint she’d heard about the vehicle.

Shahan, whose advocacy group often battles auto makers who resist buying back defective vehicles, praised Toyota’s decision to fully reimburse the couple.

The notion that the car was dead because the couple didn’t drive it enough made no sense, Shahan said.

“Nobody should buy a car and expect to have to walk it like a pet to keep it running.”

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Jeanne Wright can be reached at jeanrite@aol.com.