Memo to Prius owners: Get the extended warranty 12

http://www.arizonawaldorf.org/images/prius.jpg

I do not give financial advice.  Even if you accept the analysis here on peak oil, global warming, and clean tech, that is insufficient information on which to base investment decisions—as the financial meltdown of the last few months should make clear.

But I do think the Prius is easily the best hybrid—best green vehicle—on the road if you are looking for a vehicle in that class size.  And as much as people tend to be skeptical of an extended warranty, I assume most Prius owners get one because of the somewhat uncertain lifetime of the battery—although they have been holding up quite well.

But my display monitor just failed outside of the regular warranty, and it would have been almost as expensive as replacing the battery if I didn’t have the extended warranty.  And since it controls not just the GPS system, but other vital functions like the heating and cooling system, you can’t do without it.

This was one of the cases where the system wouldn’t work except the moment I pulled into the dealership—I guess it kept warming up.  The dealer says the service people are incredibly reluctant to replace parts that appear to be working since the parts get shipped back to Japan, and if they can’t find anything wrong they end up charging the service people.  But I took a digital photo of the frozen screen, and they replaced it without putting up much of a fuss.

Anyway, you can take this advice for what it cost you.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Joseph Romm is the editor of Climate Progress and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

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  1. sunflower's avatar

    sunflower Posted 9:19 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Prius prudence Same here, within 500 miles before the standard warranty expired, just missed that bullet.  The cost of replacing that little Prius control screen is $7,000.

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  2. biodiversivist's avatar

    biodiversivist Posted 9:29 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Holy crapYou could replace an engine or tranny for less than that! Japanese engineers are human after all.

    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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  3. John Fish Kurmann Posted 11:29 am
    17 Dec 2008

    That can't be right...$7,000, Sunflower? Are you sure that's what it would have cost to replace if it hadn't been under warranty? I can't imagine there's any way that little screen could cost that much. I have a 2002 Prius with a smaller such screen. My understanding is that the really expensive replacement pieces on the Prius have been the battery pack (though that's come down dramatically within the last year) and the transaxle.

    "You can never get enough of what you do not really want." - Huston Smith

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  4. John Fish Kurmann Posted 11:50 am
    17 Dec 2008

    I retract my doubt...Sunflower. I Googled up some posts on PriusChat.com and, sure enough, prices quoted there for new multi-function displays are in the $6-7,000 range--which seems crazy to me. Joe, one of the posters said that used MFDs can be had on eBay for hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.

    "You can never get enough of what you do not really want." - Huston Smith

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  5. amazingdrx Posted 6:29 pm
    17 Dec 2008

    Computers and carsA bad idea.  It all started with using computers to make the ridiculously inefficient internal combustion engine more efficient.
    At that point, the electric motor should have replaced the ICE.  17% efficieny for the ICE versus 90% for the electric motor.
    A battery electric car with a backup generator doesn't need a computer and it shouldn't need one to be operable.  Add a laptop if you want, with appropriate sensors and siftware to moniter the system and navigate.  But make it an extra item, not crucial to the vehicle operation.
    Remote electronic locks?  Bahhh, provide a kill switch the driver can hide.  the expensive crap that boosts the price of cars by 30%, namely all those computers, makes them unreliable and unaffordable to repair.
    An auto maker that produced a simple plugin hybrid like this, without all the fancy computerized crap would thrive.
    Simple gages, trouble lights, switches, locks, door handles, window cranks, bring back the classic simplicity of the cars of old.  With plugin hybrid gas savings.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  6. Pangolin's avatar

    Pangolin Posted 7:50 pm
    17 Dec 2008

    Electric Volkswagon bug wantedServe it up all you aspiring automakers. Give us an electric Volkswagen bug. All electric drive with a 30 mile range. Rooftop solar panels to deal with the "I forgot to charge the car" weekend. Optional 20 horsepower, air-cooled motor generator to extend range.
    If you were really smart it would be a toaster box like the original Scion B with hard points for roof racks for ladders and other tradesman's gear. In wheel motors for a low deck and electric braking to preserve brake life.
    Give it hand cranked windows, a heat-pump stolen from a fridge, LED headlights and an aluminum body filled with foam for crash safety and two doors;  driver and passenger compartment. Make the drive motor oversized to allow kids to add supercaps so they could hot-rod it.
    It would knock the socks off Detroit and Japan. I saw a design like this on the net for a taxi but can't find the link. Why not? Look at what the original Honda cars were like.



    Put the Carbon Back

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  7. John Fish Kurmann Posted 3:25 pm
    18 Dec 2008

    I got to thinking...... that something in Joe's original post didn't make sense. He wrote that, if not covered by the extended warranty, the new multifunction display would have cost almost as much as a new battery pack. Battery packs are going for much less than $6,000 last time I checked. Joe, if you're reading this, what price did they quote you for the MFD?

    "You can never get enough of what you do not really want." - Huston Smith

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  8. Bob Wallace Posted 3:50 pm
    18 Dec 2008

    Aluminum body filled with foam...Is that enough?
    Or do we need something more like a plastic body filled with air bags.
    (As I recall one of the big dangers of metal bodies is that they deform and stay deformed.  Plastics, the right ones, can absorb more energy while better keeping their shapes.)
    Fix the seats in one position and move the controls back and forth to fit the driver.
    Make the ICE a slide in-slide out.  Those who almost never drive more than 30 could leave it in the garage to save weight.  Or even not own one and rent one for the annual vacation.
    Tupperwear box with Michelin wheel motors.  Works for me.  Back to the "people's car".  
    Make it something that we can fix under the shade tree.  At least unbolt a crumpled body part and bolt another on in a few minutes like the Bug....

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  9. amazingdrx Posted 3:56 pm
    18 Dec 2008

    I called VW PangWith that very suggestion.  Put the Audi A-1 plugin hybrid drive in a carbon fiber bug.  VW owns Audi and has a VW branded version of the A-1.
    The spokes lady said VW plans no plugins for the US market.  I told her us baby boomers who liked the bug as kids would buy them.  
    I had a sense of the subtext.  US regulators would block the introduction, so they aren't even going to bother.  Just like they are delaying the chinese plugin.  VW can sell all they want to build in Europe.
    If you want a plugin hybrid bug, get a sand rail frame and mold a carbon fiber body, use a title from an old VW.  Install plugin hybrid drivetrain.  Three easy do-it-yourself steps, hehey.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  10. Bob Wallace Posted 4:15 pm
    18 Dec 2008

    Back in the days of my hybrid homebrew days...My fantasy was one of the fiberglass conversion kits that bolted to a VW chassis.  I put down my $100 deposit on a '28(?) Type 35 Bugatti.
    Looked like there was plenty of room, fore and aft, to pack a bunch of lead acids.
    But, ....
    ----
    Anyway, seems like we're entering a new phase of car building.  One company makes the batteries, another the wheel drive units (like Michelin's), some one else makes the steering gear, and another makes bodies.  
    Bolt them together when you get a purchase agreement.
    Wonder who the BEV Michael Dell will be?

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  11. gzuckier Posted 2:33 pm
    21 Dec 2008

    yeah, that's the spirit"and if they can't find anything wrong they end up charging the service people. "
    yeah, when you're a manufacturer debugging a new technology, the last thing you want is people pointing out possible problems to you. much better to tell your service people to stonewall the consumers' complaints. i mean, what the hell do they know? they only have to live day to day with the car, they didn't design it.

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  12. John Fish Kurmann Posted 10:02 am
    23 Dec 2008

    Sunflower......where do you live? I've mentioned to folks on the Toyota-Prius Yahoo group that I'd heard someone was quoted $7,000 to replace the multifunction display and was told this is way over the correct price.

    "You can never get enough of what you do not really want." - Huston Smith

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