At 5,000 miles, the front tires on my 2003 Prius are worn to the cords. When I first presented my concerns at 1,000 miles, the service guy at the dealer in Boulder CO, where I bought the car in 4/03, first said they had not really seen any tire wear problems. Now he says it's just a design flaw. The tires are just to small for the weight of the car and are going to wear out fast, especially for someone like me who does a lot of canyon driving. I think this is outragous considering that when I bought the car I described my canyon commute exactly and was told that the Prius would be ideal and that I would love it. Where it not for this fatal flaw I would. I believe that the dealer has a responsibility to disclose such a serious design flaw to a perspective buyer. I have contacted Toyota Customer Relations, but judging from other experiences I've read, I'm not expecting much help. So I will probably be unloading this car soon, as I can't afford to change tires more often than oil. Green car my ass!

> Pressure has been kept at 40psi. That comment is a bit too vague. You should have a +2psi bias for the front tires. If you did not, that would be a contributing factor to accelerated wear. 42 FRONT, 40 BACK. Also, the pressure should be carefully monitored in an above average demand situation like your own. Many people don't realize that temperature changes cause pressure to be lost. It's normal for that to happen in all vehicles. It's also normal for all vehicles that use extremely soft tires, like the 160's on Prius, to experience rapid wear. Your solution is simple. Just switch to a better tire. There are a number of alternate tires available that will last substantially longer. The 560's I've been using for the 22,300 miles have proven to work great. In your case, you will probably want to consider using a set of 700's. http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-tires.htm provides tire info to help with your selection. JOHN http://john1701a.com

I have a 2000 and had a tire recall from Toyota about a year ago. Something you guys might check into.

Don't panic! The exact same thing happened to my 2003 Prius. At 5000 miles the tires were shot! The Toyota dealership, in my case Gettel Toyota Bradenton Florida, was really concerned. They replaced the tires at no charge. I am now running 37psi front, 33psi rear. The new tires are fine. They said there was a large group of defective tires and were recalled. Get new tires, check your pressure often, raise the tire pressure and most of all enjoy. It really is a great vehicle. Jim St Petersburg, Florida milocombs

Your right it's a 2001(I had a senior moment)

I have a 2002 with 13000 mi, running 42/40 psi, with no apparent wear prob. Am in Palm Harbor, I presume near you -driving conditions probably similar. Like Hot and flat. My dealer is Sun Toyota in New Port Richie. I'm nuts about the car - has been perfect so far. Dale

My point is that Toyota has an obvious problem with their OEM tires and is doing nothing about it. They refuse to even admit that they know about it. They also refuse to recommend an alternate tire. Do they think that might open them to some liability? I've been reading much lately with regards to this and have found that there are many other Prius owners with experiences similar to mine. I also think the Prius is otherwise a great little car, but I believe Toyota should be made to address this very serious problem. Since I believe this to be a safety issue, I have filed a complaint with the Center for Auto Safety, and I appeal to all Prius owners who have had premature tire wear problems to do the same. Their address is provided below. http://www.autosafety.org/index.html

You should have said you were here just to complain and look for help in a class action lawsuit or some such and not looking for a solution. The only problem with your car is you need an alignment. Good luck with the path you chose. Charlie Fosdick

> The problem is that the tires are garbage So get an alternate instead. Choices are available whether you get an official recommendation or not. JOHN http://john1701a.com

I tried to discuss this privately with "milocombs" thinking he was actually looking for help. Offered several suggestions and asked him if he knew what his alignment was supposedly adjusted to. Maybe they got it wrong or did not do an alignment at all. Maybe a solution could be found with some further information. I am not an expert just someone who has was trying to help. Again good luck I hope it works out, Let us know when we can all get our free, better, replacement tires. Charlie Fosdick

> How "green" is that? Actually, one of the primary reasons the tires are so @%!$#* soft is that they use an environmentally friendly rubber. Interesting, eh? And since the tires are smaller than average, the volume of material is less. I bet the amount of rubber in 2 of those 14" Prius tires is the same volume as 1 of the heavy tread 18" tires on a typical SUV... Odds are, Toyota had a binding contract with Bridgestone. That is very likely to expire in just 2 weeks when the production of the 2004 Prius begins. So right after the final 2003 is sold, it could very well be that Toyota officially provides alternate recommendations since they will no longer be obligated to their supplier. Had you considered that? JOHN http://john1701a.com

environmentally friendly rubber. Interesting, eh? Interesting yea, but do you have a source for your information?

> but do you have a source for your information? The Winter edition of "PriusView" published by Toyota had a brief article mentioning the extra environmental steps they took when developing those tires specifically designed for Prius. There was also a mention of it when Toyota announced the environmentally plastic they developed for the 2004 Prius. It was a press release on Toyota's website awhile back, so it should be available in their archives now. JOHN http://john1701a.com

it gets tiring to preach this but I will continue

> You can also follow Toyota's recommendations of 35/33 and not > have problems -- like our tires. 22,000 miles on the OEM RE 92s, > and the guy who did our 30,000 service said they look "great". That alone is not enough info to explain why 35/33 actually works for you but not for the greater majority. What other factors apply to your type of driving, type of roads, climate, speed, how often you check PSI, typical internal load, etc... or even what type of guage you measure pressure with? JOHN http://john1701a.com

> I'd like to ask one of my own: how come you only ask this > information from me? Because you are the only one recently that disagrees with using a higher PSI, I asked. I didn't realized I'd get attacked for it. Without detail, how can people make decisions? The "manufacturer" that suggested the 35 PSI is Toyota. We don't know their reason why. Perhaps they wanted the softest & quietest ride, exactly like Ford did for Explorer. We'll never know, hence the question. Those using higher PSI have already provided details. The "manufacturer" that built the tire is Bridgestone. They state that 50 PSI can be safely supported. That makes the 42 PSI suggestion a fairly realistic option to try. And now that quite a few owners on the Yahoo Group have done exactly that and stated an increase in tread life without a sacrifice in handling, there's not much to wonder about anymore. It has been proven that it works. So if there is a benefit to 35 PSI that we've overlooked, go ahead and point it out. You shouldn't feel hurt when asked to join in and contribute like the others did. JOHN http://john1701a.com

Increasing tire pressure does not solve the problem of a car that is out of alignment. My car WILL NOT keep an alignment. When they returned it to me yesterday the alignment showed instead of being at .05 it was at .68! I park at home in a driveway - no curbs, I park at work on a parking lot, no curbs, my driving in 9/10's highway, most of it highway that has been paved only 3 months ago. I know of no other vehicle owned by my family, friends or co-workers that needs an alignment every 2000 miles or new tires every 10,000