The terminal/computer of my 2004 Prius went 'off' about a month after the warranty ended. It will say something like air conditioner not connected. For a long time the screen would work or not, much like a short existed. When this occurs I cannot access anything via the terminal. Even the radio instantly shuts off.
I enquired with the dealer's service and they say, sure we'll tell you what's wrong for a fee (about $100). On principle, I said no thanks. So I just live with the non-functional terminal. Now it doesn't even come on and operate even for brief periods.
My question is, are any other repair businesses capable of analyzing Prius computer problems or are we all left at the mercy(none) of Toyota?
If anyone feels I'm too stubborn on this issue and should just cave in to the Toyota monopoly, tell me--I can take it. Thanks

 

While I don’t like it either, a $100 fee for diagnosis is common even among independent shops. The cost of the equipment to do diagnosis work anymore would curl your hair, it’s just like going to the hospital for tests, they have to pay for the capital investment some how.

 

have you tried anything yorself? Sounds like a loose connection or open ground. i don't own a prius so I can't be more specific.
a short would cause a fuse to blow and wouldn't come and go.
Try a goolge search for the exact symtoms, you never know.
I owned a ford which had a crazy electronic dash issue, turns out it was widely known about and I fixed it by resoldering a terminal on the connector.
Otherwise like the previuos poster said $100 isn't too bad, Provided it is the correct diagnoses

 

This was a common problem in all 2004 and some 2005 Prii. It is due to a crack in the solder joint of pin 60 of an inter-board connector. There is a full description of the source of the problem and it's repair at:
http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/ (Thank's again Hobbit)
Which I followed and successfully repaired my MFD.

Another low cost option is to contact Steve at:
http://www.autobeyours.com
He will exchange yours for a rebuilt MFD for about $350 and the instructions for removal and installation are at his site. You can do the work yourself in about an hour or bring the instructions to an automotive stereo shop to have the removal/installation done.

JeffD

 

To JeffD: Thank you for the valuable guidance. Its about time I found out what is at the bottom of this MFD problem (not sure those letters are correct). Not sure what I'll do now but at least I know what is wrong. Makes you wonder, if Toyota had a number of failures due to this, why a service rep doesn't know about it and admit he knows about it. Now I think even less of them and their monopoly.
Bottom line--I like my Prius but won't be back to Toyota as a customer.
Thanks again!

 

MFD stands for MultiFunctional Display. Good luck and always do your research before going to a car dealer.

JeffD

 

nice,

 

I'm not any more crazy about dealer diagnostic fees than anyone else, but there is another factor to consider.

Your MFD will have a specific proceedure to check out, often called a "Trouble Tree.' It is a series of specific steps the dealer MUST go through to adequately diagnose a problem. While I have not seen the Trouble Tree for that car, the proceedure could easily be 5-15 pages long, and usually you can't easily jump from step #1 to step #34.

Basically, the $100 is for one hour of shop labor. The cost is because basically we are all driving computers on wheels, and fixing them is often very complex.

Joe