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.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. While attempting to start the vehicle, it stalled. While driving various speeds, a clanking noise was heard before the vehicle stalled. The check engine light illuminated. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the electronic control unit failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14V053000 (electrical system, hybrid propulsion system). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 85,000.
Low beam headlamp bulbs fail repeatedly in less than 6 months. This happens regardless of bulb brand or model. I have had these professionally installed at multiple shops. Happens on both sides, but the latest is on driver side.
June 2, 2016 two years ago my original headlights finally burned out. Since that time I have been replacing bulbs about every 3 to 4 months, with the last bulbs lasting only 2 months. Once one of the low beams bulbs burns out the other bulb burns out almost immediately. I have joined the Prius chat forum and have learned that this is a very common and ongoing complaint. It seems Toyota has elected to ignore this problem. The bulb on the passenger side is most difficult to replace, with me having to move the windshield reservoir out of the way. I am guessing this started about 2 years ago.
On 05/25/2016 at about 9am, while in motion at a rate of speed approx 25 mph on a street during construction (don't know if the bumpy road had anything to do with it), the change oil soon light appeared and seconds later all the lights on the dash came on with the message to check the "check hybrid system". I tried to stop the vehicle and it kept accelerating. I pressed on the breaks really hard and the traction control light kept flashing on and off like crazy but it barely had any impact. Although the vehicle slowed, it did not come to a full stop. I ended up hitting the vehicle in front of me. Thank god it was a truck and as able to stop the car from moving further or I could of ended up in the middle of an intersection. After the collision, the car would not stop although the park button was pressed and light was on. I even tried turning off the vehicle and the vehicle stayed on and in drive. I ended up in the hospital and don't know how it eventually got turned off but that was very frightening. I had my children in the car. On impact, the seat belts did not even tighten.
Vehicle lost power, stalled while driving at highway speed; "check hybrid system" displayed on dash; required replacement of inverter and intelligent power module
- Baltimore, MD, USA
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Electronic door locks continue to fail. I have taken my Prius back to Toyota two or three times to fix broken electronic door locks. At that time, vehicle was under extended warranty and the cost to replace the electronic door lock was covered. Vehicle is no longer under warranty and Toyota is quoting over $400 to fix. The fact that this continues to happen (and to different doors) leads me to believe there is a known defect in the electronic lock mechanism. I do see a few other complains of the same issue. This represents a real safety concern as the affected door remains unlocked while driving and can be opened while vehicle is in motion (such as by a child). This is also a theft concern as the door does not lock unless walking around to the affected door to manually lock it.
My headlight caught fire and severely burned my car. I was driving down the road on a city steet and saw a wisp of smoke and pulled over into a store parking lot. I had no warning lights indicating anything was wrong. It began to smoke more, and I cautiously opened the hood to see a fire coming from my drivers side headlight area. Within seconds there was a blaze, and it took 3 fire extinguishers to put it out. The fire department confirmed that the fire originated from the headlight. I had previously experienced problems with my headlight becoming dull and cloudy. An earlier NHTSA investigation did not result in a recall. I think it's the same problem with the headlight, only much worse. If there were not multiple fire extinguishers available the car could have easily exploded before the fire department arrived. It could have easily caused harm to other people.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. While driving 45 mph and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was able to be pulled over. The vehicle was restarted and resumed normal operation. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer and the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 78,000.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. While driving at 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the integrated power module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact mentioned that the vehicle was serviced under NHTSA campaign number: 14V053000 (electrical system, hybrid propulsion system); however, the remedy failed to repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. Updated 05/26/16
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, the temperature gauge began to indicate hot. The contact stated that the temperature warning light illuminated and the vehicle emitted smoke. The vehicle was parked and diagnosed by an independent mechanic, who stated that the water pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 201,000.
Check hybrid system car shuts off and can not restart, tried system reset per manual but would not clear hybrid. Towed to dealer, dtc code P3004-800, tech said this was the only code, had recall eoe reflash 04-14-2014 ipm extended 15 years. Car was in motion per wife. (it had been raining) the dtc P3004-800 power cable malfunction
On May 30, 2015, our home burned to the ground. The firefighters are certain the cause of the fire was my 2010 Prius - they know the fire started in the rear of the garage, the only other item in that area was a bicycle. Arson, faulty wiring and accidents were ruled out. Investigations continue, but they have identified an arc between the battery and the relay switch. My homeowners insurance carrier (erie) is trying to decide whether they should expend the additional $1,500 to open the relay switch box to see if they can determine if the arc was the cause of the fire, or a result. From the video footage, it is obvious that the water being poured onto the garage increased the intensity of the fire, which was due to the magnesium battery. Thestarpress.com has all the video: www.thestarpress.com/videos/news/2015/06/03/28436619/ we were trapped in an upstairs bedroom for 40 minutes - and given up for dead before the 911 operators heard my labored breathing over the still-open phone line. A heroic firefighter threw himself through the wall of our second-story bedroom to rescue us. My husband was not breathing when he was removed from home, but we have both recovered. We had been out to dinner earlier in the evening, but the car had been parked in our garage for several hours. I have heard of many other Prius fires, and wanted to alert you to our experience.
Both headlights (low beam) go out at the same time. No apparent issue with the fuses. Replacement bulbs experience a shorter than expected (approx. 6 weeks) life before burning out again.
My cars low beam headlights fail quite often; sometimes lasting less than two weeks. At other times, the bulbs put out very little light. The failures most often happen when the lights are first turned on, or when switching between high and low beam.
Headlights continue to burn out. We have changed one or both headlights at least six times since May 2015. This happens unexpectedly, going down the road at night one or both headlights will burn out. When you change them, will last a couple weeks to months. Very scary when going down a two lane back country road at night. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the low beams failed to illuminate properly. Additionally, the low beams lights failed to function when driving. The contact had to apply the high beams when the failure randomly recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who replaced the driver and passenger side low beams but the failure recurred three year after the repairs. The contact replaced three lights on the driver and two on the passenger side for the low beams but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
We purchased the car used from a Toyota dealership in spring of 2013. We had never had to replace the headlights until one side had stopped working in May 2015. As we always have done with our vehicles, we went to an auto parts store and bought the correct head lights for our make, year & model. We replaced both of them in may and in August (3 months later), both had gone out with the initial outage having occured while I was using them in the dark on a freeway. Luckily I had brights that still worked but I have since had to replace both lights again and they still remain un-working. I am scheduling repairs, however, this seems to be a major defect either in the electrical engineering or possibly related to fuse shortages. We have made several phone calls to repair shops, other Prius owners, as well as read many safety concern forums regarding this very popular issue even with 2010 models. I understand Toyota seems to take no responsibility for the high-risk headlight failure in Prius models up to 2009 but this seems flat out ridiculous and I should not be required to return home before dark or be forced to drive with my brights while oncoming traffic flashes at me as if I'm being inconsiderate.
The vehicle runs ok and a few minutes later the yellow triangle turns on, as well as the check engine light and the vehicle starts to lose power. After a few more minutes the red steering wheel light comes on along with the "check hybrid system" message and the rest of the lights and the vehicles loses all power and stops. It will normally turn back on but there was one occasion where it didn't and my husband had to push the car to a parking lot. I took the car in on the recall which should cover this but all they did was update the software and blame the issue on a car accident. I don't know if this is true as just purchased the vehicle but it sounds to me that they could have fixed the issue under the recall.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that while driving at night approximately 55 mph, the headlights were very deem and visibility was diminished. After inspecting the vehicle, the contact noticed that the passenger side low beam headlight was out and two days later the driver side low beam failed. The light bulbs were replaced. The contact mentioned that the low beam headlight bulbs were replaced a total of four times. The vehicle was never taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to get a diagnosis. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 99,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Garland, TX, USA