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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
74,253 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2006 Toyota Prius electrical problems

electrical problem

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2006 Toyota Prius Owner Comments (Page 1 of 8)

problem #146

Jul 012023

Prius

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

One afternoon, in the Summer of 23, I entered my Toyota Prius to run some errands. Once I proceeded to power on the car, none of the dashboard lights illuminated. This included the gas gauge, speedometer & transmission indicator. Fortunately, I was only driving a few blocks down the road from my residence as I live in a small rural town with little congestion, little traffic and mostly two-lane roads. I can't imagine this occurring in a much larger metropolitan city. When I arrived at my destination, I discovered that my Prius wouldn't shut off. This dashboard malfunction was preventing the Toyota from powering off. I quickly completed my errands with my vehicle running during this entire ordeal. Finally, when I returned home, I frantically researched on YouTube regarding this issue and discovered many others who also were having these no-illuminating-dashboard problems. Some YouTubers offered workarounds but the solutions will be temporary as the problem will eventually worsen until the Prius owners have no working dashboard lights. From the way I understand it, this problem is nothing more than a small computer board that's behind the speedometer and this computer board has a small diode that tends to burn out on all kinds of Toyota Priuses when it reaches around 150,000 miles.

- Hayesville, NC, USA

problem #145

Jun 032023

Prius

  • miles
I was Driving down the main road at night time in my 2006 prius and the headlights both went out and all most caused a crash. I pulled over turned my car off then back on and the headlights came back on so i started driving home. After driving a couple blocks i was pulled over by the police because my drivers side headlight was off. Luckily he let me go with a warning, but i work at night and am losing money daily because of this problem. I sent toyota a email and no answer. There has been many electrical problems with this car and the speedometer still says i am deiving 34 to 35 mph while i am actually only going 30mph. I think that toyota should fully fix the problems in thos car. Its amazing there can be so much wrong with a vehicle and they not have to replace the vehicle with a vehicle that works or fix all the problems and give me a loaner vehicle. I will upload a picture of what the toyota dealership nearest to me wanted just to replace 1 bulb ans the balast wires going to the light for one loght they want $211.34 and that is just for the bulb and wire. For there time they said each bulb and wire would be around $500 worth of repair time to pay for them to put the new light and wire in so for one lightbulb with rhe wire would be about $800-$1000 for the dealership to replace the parts, so basically $2000 to replace both light bulbs and the wires and pay the toyota company to put them in. If you look at the estimate it is for 1 bulb and 1wire and that would be the price if i put them in and if i only wanted the parts. So $211.34 then i would have to double it because i would need 2 bulbs and 2 wires. Then i would have to add another $1000. That is $500 for labor for them to put the bulbs in per each bulb and wire and they said its not guaranteed it will fix the problem. So that is $422.68 for parts and they said somewere around $500 for them to install each bulb and wire and after it might not even fix the problem. So that is $2422.68 to maybe fix the problem.

- Hoquiam , WA, USA

problem #144

Aug 132022

Prius

  • miles
Randomly the instrument panel (dashboard) does not turn on with the vehicle.

- Hoover, AL, USA

problem #143

Mar 032021

Prius

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Discovered through failures repeated to dealers that certain items (Brakes, dashboard, et. al.) were recalled by Toyote. Never received recall notices. Contacted Toyota who demanded the vehicle be taken to dealer and now refuses to do anything. Have complete documentation to attach to this communication. Essentially: Dashboard failed, brakes failed when auto in operation. Likely there are UNKNOWN additional recalls, etc. of which we were not noticed

- Bonita Springs, FL, USA

problem #142

May 312021

Prius

  • 160,000 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the vehicle intermittently failed to shut-off as needed with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to the dealer on three separate occasions and the mechanic was able to either disconnect the battery or shut-off the vehicle as designed. The manufacturer had been notified of the failure and informed him that the vehicle was out of warranty and that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The contact filed a case with the manufacturer. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000. Consumer stated Toyota is refusing to responsibility even with extended warranty if problem occurred after 2012.

- Long Beach, CA, USA

problem #141

Jun 032021

Prius

  • miles
Hi, After being parked for about 1.5 hrs my back seat on the drivers side caught on fire. I understand this is where a battery is and that newer cars of this brand have had recalls for this problem.

- Pepperell, MA, USA

problem #140

Jul 142020

Prius 4-cyl

  • 240,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Known problem with combination meter - found it searching online once I realized this was the problem. I bought my car used and since it is no longer covered by Toyota, it didn't come up in search. Having issues with there being no display on the dash and vehicle not shutting off for the entire time I have had the car. It only happens intermittently. This is a safety issue for sure! can't see speed, gas, gears...anything about car whether car stationary or moving.

- Lancaster, CA, USA

problem #139

Dec 092019

Prius

  • 202,000 miles
According to the Toyota dealership where I have my car maintained, my 2006 Prius is in need of a new motherboard. Apparently there was a recall on this prior to so many miles on the vehicle but I have missed this deadline as my car did not show these symptoms prior to the cutoff.. my Prius when turned on does not turn on the dash board features so I have no idea how fast I am driving. Once I reach my destination I am unable to turn my car off. The power button does not respond, usually for several hours. In these cases I usually leave my car on in the parking lot where I am and return over the next several hours to check on it. It tends to turn off after taking the car for a long drive several hours later. This occurs about twice a month now.

- Buhl, ID, USA

problem #138

Oct 192019

Prius

  • 176,000 miles
I was driving on a highway 95 South, almost to Delaware, at night in the rain, after 4 hours on the road, everything stopped working. I couldn't accelerate, I had no brakes, and eventually even my lights went out. The entire electrical system was out. I was in heavy traffic, and don't even know how I got off the highway, and to a gas station. The tow truck driver couldn't even jump the battery enough to get the car in neutral, and had a difficult time getting it up on the flatbed to tow it home. I couldn't even lock the doors. I had a new key made at the dealership on 10/17/19 and I was using that key for hours driving to ct and a couple of days later I was half way home when everything in the car stopped working. I was towed to my home in md because I needed to be able to unpack my car and computer before taking it to the dealership. When the second tow came the next day, I handed him the key by the front door, which was my old key, and he was able to get the car in neutral right away, and at the dealership the car worked just fine. The only difference was the new key. The technician found that "the immobilizer ECU has an intermittent open circuit failure, causing the key to be seen as unauthorized and stall the engine." From jim coleman Toyota. Apparently there is a part of the computer system that shuts off all systems if it detects an "unauthorized" key--I.e. if it believes the car is being stolen. It seems to me that this is a very dangerous program in this car. I had been using that new key for several days, and had no problem, but for it to decide in the middle of the highway after hours on the road that the key was a fake, I could have been killed or I could have killed someone else. I would much prefer that my car be stollen than that someone might get killed but shutting off everything while it was on the road.

- Chevy Chase, MD, USA

problem #137

Feb 012020

Prius

  • miles
Headlights constantly go out. Research online proves Prius vehicles with hid bulb systems have ballast issues causing constant blowing of either bulbs or ballast failure. Not only is safety constantly compromised, but it is illegal when a headlight goes out driving down the road.

- Tifton, GA, USA

problem #136

Nov 012019

Prius

  • 188,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The water pump went out causing the hybrid battery to die. Pressing the break is supposed to recharge the battery but the battery is now completely gone

- Memphis, TN, USA

problem #135

Sep 182019

Prius

  • miles
Both of my headlights went out at the same time the other day now the fact that both of them went out at the exact same time already tells me that its not the bulb, ballest or anything other then an electrical issue because everyone is having this problem and they have changed both ballasts and bulbs and the same thing happened over and over again, please make this a recall because it is very unsafe

- Ansonia, CT, USA

problem #134

Aug 012018

Prius

  • 103,000 miles
Known problem with combination meter - found it searching online once I realized this was the problem. I bought my car used and since it is no longer covered by Toyota, it didn't come up in search. Having issues with there being no display on the dash and vehicle not shutting off for the entire time I have had the car. It only happens intermittently. This is a safety issue for sure! can't see speed, gas, gears...anything about car whether car stationary or moving.

- Encinitas, CA, USA

problem #133

Mar 012019

Prius

  • miles
Toyota refuses to replace the combination meter in my vehicle although it only has 110K miles on it. They have acknowledged my vehicle was included with the batch of models that have this known issue under 2004-2009 Toyota Prius combination meter warranty extension ztv, but will not cover. This is not right for a consumer to be on the hook for Toyota's quality issue. This is a significant safety issue and should be under a formal recall.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #132

Nov 232018

Prius

  • 118,000 miles
My hv battery has a problem. The red triangle showed when the car millage was only 118000M. I checked with servco and replaced one cell of the hv battery. However, the red triangle showed again, and code reader found another damaged cell. That would be a possibility that the whole hv battery was damaged.

- Honolulu, HI, USA

problem #131

Aug 072017

Prius

  • 180,000 miles
As I was reversing and my foot was on the gas pedal a loud beep came on, all of the dashboard warning lights lit up including the brake light. I checked to see if my parking brake was on and it was not. I put the car on park and turned the car off and on. My car worked I drove a few minutes and as I was approaching the freeway I luckily came to a stop on a red light. Suddenly the same loud beep, warning lights, and break light came on and this time because my foot was on the brake pedal I felt the brake extremely hard/stiff. Because I was at a red light I quickly put my car on park turned the car off and then on again and made a right turn to avoid going on the freeway. I decided to carefully drive to a family member's house close by going no more than 25 mph with my emergency lights on I did not want to risk my brakes stiffening up and failing but I was in a congested area with no parking. I was fortunate enough not to get on the freeway and I was fortunate enough that this failure happened on occasions where I was either going very slow or already stopped. I don't know what could happen if I had to come to a stop and could not because my brakes were stiff. Toyota will not cover this manufacturers ABS actuator defect that they know about because the deadline was Dec. 2017. This is dangerous and can lead to accidents and even death.

- Stevenson Ranch, CA, USA

problem #130

May 312018

Prius

  • 63,200 miles
I was driving normally and suddenly a continuos beep was there, I tried to stop a no brakes.I was able to steer my car to a safe place.then used a toll service and took it to my Toyota dealer.in a short time they told me they told me the computerized brake system was defective and the job will cost me $2250 I can not afford. I tolled the car back to my house.later I found that there had been a recall from Toyota.I was never notified although I took my car there for regular checkups. Note: My car was in motion and previous to incident I had descended a steep hill. I consider myself lucky on that date, three minutes earlier I would have been in great distress trying to stop my Toyota Prius.

- Ponce, PR, USA

problem #129

Mar 272018

Prius

  • 80,000 miles
Sometimes as I drive the vehicle, after a while, either one of the headlights turns off randomly. I don't always notice when it happens, other than when pulling up behind another vehicle at a stop light and notice that there is only 1 headlight reflection coming from my vehicle. They both work normally if I turn them off and on again.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

problem #128

Dec 012016

Prius

  • 49,163 miles
The problem first started in winter of 2016, only when temperatures were below 30 degrees. The trunk hatch release switch would not fully release, causing me to have to work the switch several times and pull up hard on the hatch in order to open it. The problem slowly got worse and weather no longer played a role in affecting it. It stopped working completely and no longer would open the hatch so it needed to be replaced.

- Racine, WI, USA

problem #127

Feb 132018

Prius

  • 138,000 miles
Combination meter is going out on the car. This controls the dashboard lights, meaning that I cannot see how fast I am going or if there are any gauges or sensors lit up alerting me to a problem with the vehicle. Toyota had an extended warranty on this but it has now expired and they want $1000 to fix it.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

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