Toyota failed to fix defect that can cause Prius to overheat and lose power

canada goose clearance sale But having seen more than 100 post recall failures, Roger Hogan whose family owns Claremont Toyota and Capistrano Toyota warned customers about the issue and refused to resell used Priuses he’d gotten as trade ins. Today, he has 70 of the cars, worth $1 canada goose outlet 80 off million, parked at his dealerships. canada goose clearance sale

Canada Goose Outlet Last year, Hogan filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court alleging that the Prius hybrid system has an unresolved canada goose outlet belgium safety defect that could leave cars canada goose outlet in uk without power. And he filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s office of defect investigations, telling the agency in a Dec. 14 letter that canada goose outlet website legit “there are lives needlessly at risk.” Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose online “Our responsibility begins and ends with our customers’ safety,” said Hogan, former president of the Southern California Toyota Dealers Assn., who has owned Toyota sales lots for nearly a quarter of a century. Canada Goose online

In a statement Tuesday, Toyota officials rejected Hogan’s allegations.

“We believe Mr. Hogan’s complaint is entirely without merit, and we intend canada goose outlet kokemuksia to defend vigorously against his inaccurate and misleading allegations,” the company said. canada goose parka outlet “Our focus remains on the safety and security of our customers.”

Hogan filed his suit, which alleges breach of contract and fraud, in Orange County Superior Court last July and amended the allegations in November. Toyota sought to have the case thrown out on canada goose outlet trillium parka black legal grounds, but Judge Peter Wilson ruled in December that it could go forward canada goose outlet ottawa and set canada goose outlet a trial for January canada http://www.canadagoosejacketoutlett.com goose outlet new york city 2019. The existence of the suit has not been previously reported.

Toyota officially recognized a problem in the hybrid system on Feb. 12, 2014, when it filed a voluntary recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It acknowledged a defect that could cause overheating in a device called an inverter, which controls high power transfers between the battery and the vehicle’s two electric motors.

canada goose store The inverter boosts the battery’s 200 volts to about 500 volts to drive two electric motors, and converts the electricity from direct current to alternating current (similar to what comes out of a household outlet). When the car brakes are applied, the power flow reverses to charge the battery. canada goose store

Canada Goose Parka Toyota’s recall fix involved unspecified changes to the vehicle’s software. Toyota has not said exactly how the software reduces overheating, and its statement did not canada goose uk site answer questions submitted by The Times about whether it could affect the vehicle’s performance, fuel economy or emissions. Some automotive experts contacted by The Times say the software could affect the vehicle’s performance. with defective inverters and 80,000 hybrid Highlanders with the problem. The software fix costs $80, while an inverter replacement costs more than $2,000 per vehicle. Hogan said the canada goose outlet winnipeg software fix is saving the company $1.3 billion as compared with replacing the inverters. Canada Goose Parka

buy canada goose jacket cheap Toyota’s statement Tuesday defended the validity of the software fix, which it said allows a vehicle to move at a slow speed even if the inverter overheats and fails. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose “Toyota stands behind the effectiveness and appropriateness of the Prius inverter recall remedy, which was designed to ensure operation of the vehicle in failsafe driving mode in the unlikely event of an inverter failure,” the company said. “Once in failsafe mode, the vehicle can be safely driven for some distance at a reduced speed. This feature, which canada goose outlet uk fake is common across canada goose outlet online uk the automotive industry, was designed to enhance vehicle safety.” canada goose

When canada goose outlet official the inverter fails, the car’s diagnostic system notifies the driver with a “check hybrid system” light on the dashboard and stores diagnostic codes that allow technicians to find the problem. Technicians who work for Hogan told him that all of the inverters returned with such codes have shown signs of soot and charring inside the inverter housing.

Martha Anderson, a retired school teacher canada goose shop uk who lives in South Orange County, said she was driving home from shopping last October when her 2012 Prius which had the software fix lost power in busy traffic on Alicia Parkway in Laguna Nigel. She was able to pull over into a parking space on a side street.

canada goose deals “I’ve never lost power before,” Anderson said, adding that the experience left her shook up. “I just thought, ‘Please, God, let me out of here.’ I was lucky I wasn’t on the freeway.” canada goose deals

canada goose coats on sale Kyle Hogan, manager of Claremont Toyota, shows a defective inverter from a 2012 Prius. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) canada goose coats on sale

canada goose clearance When the car was towed to Hogan’s nearby dealership, mechanics found that the inverter had overheated so badly that two holes were blown through the aluminum canada goose outlet jackets case and even steel bolts had signs of melting. Anderson got rid of the Prius and bought canada goose outlet orlando a new Corolla from Hogan. The failed Prius is one the dealer refuses to resell. canada goose clearance

canadian goose jacket Hogan posted a warning about the problem on his dealership website in 2017 under the title of “public canada goose outlet vip safety notification.” When Toyota became aware, it sent him a letter saying the posting contained misleading information and would confuse customers. canadian goose jacket

canada goose black friday sale “When implemented,” the letter said, “the software change lessens the likelihood of a failure by improving the power management and internal operating temperatures for specific electronics in the inverter.” canada goose black friday sale

buy canada goose jacket Skip Miller, the attorney who represents Hogan, said the assertion that the software fix only “lessens the likelihood” of a failure is a violation of federal law. “The whole point of recall law is to fix the car canada goose outlet in chicago before it fails,” he said. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose coats The fail safe mode, which Toyota documents also call limp home mode, allows the canada goose outlet online reviews cars to go 5 or 10 mph, Miller said. “It is an extreme safety hazard,” he said. canada goose jacket outlet uk “It is intended to limit damage to the inverter.” canada goose coats

According to Miller, Hogan’s problems with Toyota date to about 2015 when the dealer paid to develop a canada goose parka uk software program that would improve recall notifications to Toyota customers. It was aimed at increasing the often low completion rates after a recall is issued and notifying mechanics when a specific vehicle brought in for other service was under a canada goose outlet london recall.

Canada Goose Jackets Miller said Toyota rejected the idea and began quarreling with the Hogan family. The suit alleges that Toyota refused to supply all the vehicles that Hogan could sell, essentially diverting his business to other dealers. And it says Toyota decided to “punish Hogan” by blocking his plan to turn over canada goose outlet canada management responsibility to his three sons. Canada Goose Jackets

cheap Canada Goose In its statement, Toyota said, “Ultimately, we believe Mr. Hogan’s lawsuit is motivated primarily by a separate dispute he has with Toyota over management canada goose outlet online and succession issues involving his dealership, not the efficacy of this recall.” cheap Canada Goose

Toyota’s handling of the Prius recall comes nearly nine years after the company faced problems with sudden acceleration canada goose outlet black friday sale in its Camry and Lexus models. A California Highway Patrol officer and three family members died in a runaway Lexus.

Federal regulators found that canada goose outlet store toronto Toyota had failed to promptly notify customers about unintended acceleration problems caused by faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. The company was fined $1.2 billion, which at the time was a record for an auto defect. Criminal allegations in the matter were dropped last October under a canada goose outlet niagara falls deferred prosecution agreement.

So far, inverter failures have not canada goose outlet florida been linked to any injuries or crashes, though when a car loses power the owner might not be aware that it was caused by canada goose outlet miami an inverter failure, Miller said.

In recent years, hundreds of consumer complaints about Prius inverter overheating have been filed on the NHTSA website and posted on various online forums. In one of many examples, an owner reported that the car stalled out on a freeway when the dashboard warning lights indicated a hybrid power failure.