TCUH? Toyota Certified Used Hybrid
When it comes to moving the metal, Toyota doesn’t fool around. OK, they did do those stupid Tundra truck tricks. But how do you think a man like Mr. Toyonda got to be a man like Mr. Toyonda? By building on the brand’s rep for reliability. To that end, to expand the market for Priora and other hybrid models, Toyota’s adding “Toyota Certfied Used Hybrids” (TCUH) to their Toyota Certified Vehicles (TCUV) program. “Customers benefit from additional inspection and warranty coverage on Toyota hybrids within the program. Each vehicle comes with the three-month/3,000-mile comprehensive warranty, seven-year/100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty and roadside assistance plan offered on traditional TCUV models.” The program also “brings added awareness to a pre-existing eight-year/100,000-mile factory hybrid battery warranty.” In other words, same coverage, more rappers. The TCUH pre-certfication process includes 14 additional hybrid-related inspection points, including the hybrid transaxle, control modules and battery. Existing owners should benefit from improved residuals. Now, if Lexus will do the same for the LS600hL…
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Michael, take a look at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Prius_Technical_Stuff/?yguid=80778389 Now I realise that that is not a statistically valid sample, but blown steering rack, ecus, and batteries in various states of misery are not the impression that your report gives.
CR's samples are large enough to draw some conclusions from. The yahoo group isn't even close (you, at times, will have gotten an absurdly sunny view of the car from that same group, too - a group of which, by the way, I've been a member since 2004). The discussion he's referring to, by the way, starts out with this post:
I have been getting the power steering warning light occaisionally. If I shut the engine off and reboot, it goes away. I figured out that sometimes the power steering stops functioning and sometimes it does not. My steering wheel will move a little when I am stopped. This motion even continues for few seconds after the igitnition is turned off. Also the car seems to occaisionally pull to the right if I don't hold the steering wheel. I can drive the car just fine and yet the motion is a little bit unnerving. My car was under the 5 year unlimited warranty for the power steering which unfortunately expired on Nov.30, 2006. Has anyone had any luck having Toyota cover this repair after the five year period was over. Also, what expense is typically involved if I cannot convince them to fix this item? I did invest in a new traction battery at 227,444 miles and was hoping for 500,000 miles or so. Everything else about the car seems fine 1st gen (US) Prius, 8 years old. Lasted >220,000 miles before a new battery was warranted. A steering problem develops at >260,000 miles. Any questions?People are talking about two different Consumer Reports measurements here. A vehicle can earn earn high owner satisfaction scores in the Consumer Reports survey without necessarily having the best reliabilty scores (as measured by the charts with the black and red dots). Note that the Corvette Z06 is listed as one of the top-scoring vehicles in the owner satisfaction survey. Corvettes tend not to score well in the magazine's reliability surveys. But owners are willing to overlook reliability glitches because of the car's other qualities. That doesn't mean that the Prius is unreliable - as I recall, it scores well in the magazine's reliability surveys. But earning a high customer satisfaction rating score is NOT a guarantee of good reliability.
Agreed, but even your comment undersells the Prius - it won most reliable overall a few years recently: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/18/consumer-reports-top-five-reliable-family-cars-list-includes-tw/