Feel like being re-ended by a tired semi-driver??
The U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced that it was opening an investigation into the Prius after receiving numerous complaints that both the 2004 and 2005 models of the Toyota hybrid have been stalling at highway driving speeds between
35 and 65 MPH.The agency stated that all the complaint filers "reported that the engine shut down suddenly without warning" and at least half of them said that "when the engine shut off, the vehicle would not restart and had to be towed."
The high-tech hybrid runs on both a small gasoline engine and an electric motor powered by a battery pack that is recharged by the gas engine. A computer under the hood switches back and forth between gas and battery and turns the engine off whenever the Prius comes to a stop. Toyota said it is trying to find the cause of the problem, which it originally attributed to a "programming error," but then admitted that there might be a larger problem.