I ordered a Prius on 7/2 with e-mail confirmation on 7/5. The dealer told me the car would be here by 9/25. Then he called me yesterday and said there was a recall on a part of the Prius steering mechanism and they ordered a new part for it. If the car arrived first they would have to hold it until the new part arrived and was installed. He said I would be hearing about the recall in the news in a day or two but so far I haven't heard anything. Has anybody else heard about this recall?

Several weeks ago a poster here talked about a steering "shudder" in his Prius. This recall may be related.

I work at a Toyota dealership....the recall affects about 1,750 Prius' already produced for US sale. They will replace the entire steering rack assy. about a 2-3 hr job....although i have heard rumors about a parts shortage (i work in parts dept)....my advice is to see if dealer can put in an order for the steering rack as soon as possible and have the parts manager order it as "critical" or what we call VOR status (vehicle off road). hope this helps.<br>Jason....

Jason,<br>thanks for you input - it looks like a serious defect - I wonder what else might go wrong in this so called "tested in Japan for 3 years" car?<br><br>Maybe you can answer my question: What is dealer's take on every PRIUS sold?<br>Is it MSRP - dealers invoice price???<br><br>Thanks for answer<br><br>Robert

Robert,<br>Its really not that serious....it just affects the ease of the power steering under certian conditions, in worst case no power steering at all....as far as the dealers take....its MSRP....selling for straight sticker price....theyve only ordered 3 (one is my parents recent order) and arent expected to sell any until their ETA in Jan/Feb. Other dealers in lager metro areas around here (Raleigh, Charlotte) are taking up to 20 orders a day and have sold a bunch of them....it seems bigger cities are getting the pick of the litter in our region (Southeast Toyota)not fair huh???....from what our sales staff says...theyre making little profit on the Prius except for dealer holdback (usually 1-3% of dealer cost) which is exceptional to some people. Most sales staff here that i have talked to dont even want to encourage the sale of a Prius because of its availibilty and very little product knowledge. Also they get no comission for up to 5 months. I am employed there and i cant even get a price break on it....<br>Jason