It Must Be Karma

Musing about which Thanksgiving was the most memorable was apparently not the thing to do in the larger scheme of things. Off to an early Thanksgiving Day drive to Flagstaff to join Rebecca for dinner, Prudence Prius shut down about 125 miles west of our destination. Kudos to AAA for its prompt professional response to our dilemma, setting the disabled vehicle on the lot of Findlay Toyota of Flagstaff at about 3 PM (we missed our dinner reservations but were treated to a delicious feast prepared by Rebecca and Kevin). I called Findlay bright and early Friday morning, and by shortly after noon we were told that the hybrid battery had discharged to the critical point—probably because of the steep pull, they said, even though we have made that drive dozens of times without incident—and that after recharging it we were ready to go. The $60 charge was painless enough, and we were happy to have back our transportation. Later that afternoon, however, having driven only a few miles around town, Prudence shut down again. Findlay was curious about why this had happened and how we were going to get the vehicle back to their location. I reminded the service advisor that it happened because they had obviously not repaired the vehicle and that placed the responsibility of towing on them. That’s where Prudence is as I write. We returned home yesterday in a 2008 Mazda 6 from Hertz, and will return to Flagstaff next weekend with the hope of picking up our Prius (in good working order). I’m thinking that this week’s posts will be of interest to Toyota, to Findlay Toyota Flagstaff, and anyone wondering what the reliability and repair record for a Prius actually is. Anyone reading this that may be so inclined to inform these entities that they are being “watched” might contribute to the eventual outcome.