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Originally Posted by ah-kay
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There are more Prius owners in the world than the Priuschat forums, I know a bunch of them - some in the US and some outside. The transaxle problem person was in US though - NY to be exact.
Toyota recommended to use toyota T-IV fluid in the transmission of the early ones and according to them does not require servicing until at least 100,000 miles. The transaxle fluid is mostly used to cool down the two motors inside it. You can very well imagine how hot those motors can get and how terrible that oil can get when scalding hot. The transaxle in and out are through the motors - lose one and you lose drive, Toyota does not sell individual parts to service the trans.
Now imagine you owning that car - out of warranty, 145,000 miles old which is now non-driveable - how much do you think you can get for it?
Its a auto industry wet dream - as the owner is forced to dump the car and pony up for a new one every time its out of warranty repairs as the repair costs at that time usually surpass the market value of the car. Its not built like a MB that one can think of paying up because one knows that MB cars are tough and can return back to 100% roadworthy condition and will last quite a bit.