Prius MFD Discussion

[sorka]

I remember similar stories and prices when Prius was only a couple years old and screens blinked out after the warranty. Owners were lucky that a Prius owning MIT genius figured out the defect on the circuit board and offered inexpensive repairs. Later Toyota came up with a (relatively) inexpensive swap program.

That isn't the screen that went out but the combination meter which is a printed vacuum fluorescent digital display. Toyota eventually did a warranty enhancement on it to 9 years unlimited mileage. I was just about to send mine in for repair when they announced the warranty enhancement.

 

[sorka]

Like others have said, Toyota did the same thing with the screen in the '04 and '05 Prius for almost the same amount of money so don't just label it as a Tesla thing.

Not so. The combination meter display which is was the epidemic failing part on the 2nd gen Prii lists for $250 but can now be had at discount for $175 or so. When mine failed, the dealer wanted about $500 to replace it about half of which was the cost of the part. I opted to send it in to have it repaired for $100 but just as I pulled it out, Toyota announced the enhanced warranty.

The LCD screen on the Prius is the MFD(Multi Function Display) and they were never a problem.

 

[jelloslug]

Not so. The combination meter display which is was the epidemic failing part on the 2nd gen Prii lists for $250 but can now be had at discount for $175 or so. When mine failed, the dealer wanted about $500 to replace it about half of which was the cost of the part. I opted to send it in to have it repaired for $100 but just as I pulled it out, Toyota announced the enhanced warranty.

The LCD screen on the Prius is the MFD(Multi Function Display) and they were never a problem.

Not back when they first stared failing in '08 or so. They were thousands at that time.

 

[sorka]

Not back when they first stared failing in '08 or so. They were thousands at that time.

'08 is a little premature.There are a few single reports in '08 of failed units. They started trickling in around '09. The earliest report of what anyone had to pay to have the CM replaced:

Replaced Combination Meter at 195,000 km

was $700.

The MSRP for the part has always been $250.72 but is pretty heavily discounted in the $175 range.

 

[jelloslug]

'08 is a little premature.There are a few single reports in '08 of failed units. They started trickling in around '09. The earliest report of what anyone had to pay to have the CM replaced:

Replaced Combination Meter at 195,000 km

was $700.

The MSRP for the part has always been $250.72 but is pretty heavily discounted in the $175 range.

MFD failure; options?
MFD failure not covered by extended warranty

Many people were quoted thousands and thousands before the cheap, refurbished units were made available.

Here are some current price for a new MFD depending on trim:

MULTI-DISPLAY ASSY made by Toyota. #8611047071

MULTI-DISPLAY ASSY made by Toyota. #8611047220C0

 

[sorka]

MFD failure; options?
MFD failure not covered by extended warranty

Many people were quoted thousands and thousands before the cheap, refurbished units were made available.

Here are some current price for a new MFD depending on trim:

MULTI-DISPLAY ASSY made by Toyota. #8611047071

MULTI-DISPLAY ASSY made by Toyota. #8611047220C0

The MFD is not the CM. The CM is what toyota covered by the enhanced warranty and had a high failure rate. MFD failures are rare. DId you not read post #85 above??

 

[jelloslug]

The MFD is not the CM. The CM is what toyota covered by the enhanced warranty and had a high failure rate. MFD failures are rare. DId you not read post #85 above??

The failure is a poorly designed soldered connection inside the MFD on the 04 and 05 Prius, that's what I've been talking about the entire time. The CM is the speedometer and fuel gauge. There have been a few CM issues but lots and lots of 04 & 05 cars had failures of the MFD.

 

[jelloslug]

You have your parts confused. The CM is the part that has a 100% failure rate and Toyota extended the warranty on it.

This is the letter that I and everyone else got:

2004-2009 Toyota Prius Combination Meter Warranty Extension ZTV

The MFD was never covered by a warranty extension and their failure rate is very very low. There are thousands of posts on failed CMs in priuchat, where I have been a prolific poster for over 10 years, but very few reports of MFD failures.

In fact, they are so rare, you can buy the MFDs on ebay for a few hundred parted out from salvage vehicles.

The CM defect was caused by bad solder joints caused by the switch to non lead based solder. There are DOZENs of extensive threads and articles discussing the CM discussing the bad solder joints caused by lead free solder:

combination meter repair - DIY

Please post a link showing the that few MFD failures are related to bad soldering.

Also please post a link backing up the claim that the MFD was ever covered by an enhanced warranty extension.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I was specifically taking about the MFD failures on the '04 and '05 models that were caused by poor solder joints between internal boards. I never said that there was an extend warranty nor did I ever mention the CM. Do a search on Priuschat for MFD failure and you will find plenty of posts as well as DIY fixes by Hobbit and others.

 

[sorka]

I have no idea what you are talking about. I was specifically taking about the MFD failures on the '04 and '05 models that were caused by poor solder joints between internal boards. I never said that there was an extend warranty nor did I ever mention the CM. Do a search on Priuschat for MFD failure and you will find plenty of posts as well as DIY fixes by Hobbit and others.

I can understand your confusion. You said:

Not back when they first stared failing in '08 or so. They were thousands at that time.

This was never true. The MFD never had a high failure rate and didn't fail thousand at a time. The CM did.

MFD failure; options?
MFD failure not covered by extended warranty

Many people were quoted thousands and thousands before the cheap, refurbished units were made available.

There were cheap refurbished CMs made available by third parties but was not the case with the MFD.

The CM failed by the 10s of thousands because of bad solder joints. I'm not aware of any MFDs failing because of bad solder joints. If you are, I ask you again to please post a link.

You've said multiple things about a Toyota component that are true for the CM but not for the MFD.

 

[jelloslug]

I can understand your confusion. You said:



This was never true. The MFD never had a high failure rate and didn't fail thousand at a time. The CM did.



There were cheap refurbished CMs made available by third parties but was not the case with the MFD.

The CM failed by the 10s of thousands because of bad solder joints. I'm not aware of any MFDs failing because of bad solder joints. If you are, I ask you again to please post a link.

You've said multiple things about a Toyota component that are true for the CM but not for the MFD.

I never said there were thousands of failures, I said they were thousands of dollars.

Prius MFD

MFD failure; options?
MFD failure not covered by extended warranty
Gen 2 Prius MFD Screen Repair - Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists
Art's Automotive
letter to Toyota re: MFD failures
Help MFD failure 2004.. anyone exchange theres?
Reconditioned MFD?
dreaded MFD failure & now steering wheel buttons failing too!
Refurbished 2004 MFD

 

[sorka]

I never said there were thousands of failures, I said they were thousands of dollars.

Prius MFD

MFD failure; options?
MFD failure not covered by extended warranty
Gen 2 Prius MFD Screen Repair - Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists
Art's Automotive
letter to Toyota re: MFD failures
Help MFD failure 2004.. anyone exchange theres?
Reconditioned MFD?
dreaded MFD failure & now steering wheel buttons failing too!
Refurbished 2004 MFD

Which one of these links talks about MFD failures because of bad solder joints?

 

[jelloslug]

Which one of these links talks about MFD failures because of bad solder joints?

Start at the top.

 

[sorka]

Start at the top.

Thanks for that. First I've seen of the MFDs confirmed to be fixed by repairing a cracked joint. But I asked and you provided

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Moderator can you please move most of the recent posts to the Prius forum?