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 owned a 2013 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph, the driver pressed the brake pedal to stop the vehicle but the vehicle accelerated forward and crashed into a second vehicle. During the crash the driver sustained multiple contusions to the body including the chest area which required medical treatment. The vehicle was destroyed and towed away. A police report #159681-2019 was taken at the scene. The local dealer Toyota of richardson (1221 N. central expy. Richardson tx.) the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 120,000.
Brake accumulator failure resulting in not being able to stop properly. Brakes began pulsating and making sounds under passenger seat. Electric pumping sound became more and more prominent over time. Brakes failed and warning lights came on, resulting in inability to stop properly, and hitting the curb in a parking lot. This is obviously a major issue with the Prius. Service manager admitted they see it all the time. When I asked why we were not notified in advance, they said a 'hidden warranty' existed, but you have to wait for the problem to happen. This problem happened twice in our 2005 Prius. Thank goodness we did not have any accidents as a result of the brake failure. Brakes are the most important system in a car, and without them, well, you can't stop. Please work with Toyota to notify owners of this dangerous defect in their priuses from the year 2004 on.
I was in los angeles picking up my two friends on whitley avenue, this street is on a bit of an incline. I was driving my Toyota Prius and pressed the "park" button. Instead of parking, the car started to roll backwards and went into neutral. The gear shirt is separate from the park button so I know for a fact that I did not put the car in neutral. I attempted to press the power button on "park" button on the car. I even tried to chage the gear shift to "D" (for drive) repeatedly. Nothing I tried at the time was working and whitley avenue intersects a very heavy traffic street, franklin avenue so I needed to stop the car before it went into this street. I turned my wheel to hit my care against curb so that it would stop rolling. This resulted in my car causing a domino effect and hitting a second car, which hit another car, which hit another car. In total my car and three other cars were affected by this impact. My trunk completely shattered and the stuff from it flew into the car that I hit directly hit (this trunk also completely shattered). The trunk of the third car also completely shattered. My car is now totaled and I would like to find out what happened. After the accident I was speaking with people in the area and another lady informed me that she had seen another Prius roll uncontrollably down that hill as well.
2013 Prius, mileage 29,409. Car in motion driving on city streets. While breaking on uneven roads/potholes, the car skids and front wheels lock up and traction control/break assist light appears on the dashboard. When this occurs the car is dangerously slow to break and takes far too long to stop. This happens almost daily on my commute to work in both dry and wet conditions. This seems to be an issue with the breaking/stability system.
Experienced what appears to be a common malfunction of the ABS system. Went over a regular road bump on a city street, nothing drastic, while braking. Immediately after, the traction control, brake, and ABS lights came on solid. There was still some braking available, but it required much more force and pedal travel to achieve the same level of braking as before. This could be very dangerous if someone then needed to stop suddenly. I was able to drive home. Found some forums on line about this problem, which appears to be widespread. Using a paperclip, I was able to 'reset' the system, clearing the warning lights and reestablishing ABS and regenerative braking...but only for a short while. Later in the day, the same malfunction occurred, with the same warning lights appearing, loss of ABS and regen braking.
- Tallahassee, FL, USA
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Something started buzzing every few seconds in engine compartment toward drivers side firewall. At slow speeds, brakes pulsated with uneven braking. As time went on, buzzing was more frequent. Warning lights flashed once but went out. After that, when parking car, the brakes went all the way to the floor and I hit another car at parking speeds. Dealer says 'brake actuator pump' and will cost nearly $3000 to fix. This pump also went out on my 2005 Prius! but that was covered by a 'hidden' warranty that I found while googling the issue. Would have paid full price for that repair if I had not run across that tsb. This is obviously a big money maker for Toyota fixing these but is a huge danger to the many drivers this has happened to over the years. Please do something about it before someone gets hurt. It is a recurring and substantial threat to driver safety that many drivers will overlook because of the inflated cost of the parts. Thank you.
Brake actuator went bad after recent (service appt 1/26/19) install of new 12 volt battery and software update due to NHTSA recall #18V-684. While traveling down the highway on 1/30/19 lights came on for brake, ABS and skid control. Vehicle was not braking at the time. Condition caused reduction of brake control. The next day while again traveling on highway at highway speed to Toyota dealer for service, the lights went off and brakes worked properly. Service was not able to reset code and I was told that means the brake actuator needs to be replaced. I was quoted $3,400 for repair
Unusual loud clicking and screeching sound as well as vibration feeling under the brake pedal while pressing the brake pedal and brakes don't feel powerful enough despite just getting new brake pads at the dealership and there is much longer distance needed for braking and bringing to a full stop. This has progressively increased since last noticed about 11-12 months ago when the odometer was arount 95000 miles. It started spontaneaously on its own. There was no accident or impact of any kind.
I noticed when I was driving on a dry clear day traction control/brake light/ABS illuminated my brakes became extremely hard to press and come to a stop also my cruise control will not engage. The lights on the dash would go off and the car would drive normal for a few days. It repeated this scenario a few times before the traction control/brake light/ABS lights stayed on permanently as well as the cruise control will not engage.
Suddenly the ABS, brake and the traction light came on and will go way after 20min. When the lights came on there's no warning so you might get an accident without being prepared for words as is so dangerous to have such a safety issue with the car like this.
2013 Prius 3 vehicle always serviced at Toyota dealership, last service they recommended front brake pads replacement, tires and alignment so I did. 7 months later driving along smooth city road ABS, tracking control, and brake lights comes on brakes feel harder to depress and no generative braking. I had diagnostics run for codes and came back (C1391 abnormal leak in accumulator). Research found this common problem crack in accumulator due to vibration but found no recall on it.
The contact owns a 2013 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 50 mph and attempting to stop the vehicle, the driver depressed the brake pedal and the front end of the vehicle began to swerve and vibrate. The ECU sensor indicator illuminated and the brakes failed. The driver was unable to immediately stop the vehicle. The vehicle eventually stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. The vehicle was driven directly to allen jay Toyota (40 us hwy 27 North, seabring, fl) who initially was unable to determine the cause of the failure. After retrieving the vehicle, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the ECU was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and no solution was offered. The failure mileage was 90,000.
When moving then braking, just before the car stops(in the last feet of dead stop) the brake pedal shakes and the tires feels like they are engaging and disengaging in brakes, associated with loud rubber noise rubbing(like un-lubricated actuator). This noise is also heard 2 minutes after switching the car off
When I apply break at any speed (maybe above 20mph) the break system doesn't work properly. I have to press the brake paddle really hard down to the floor. Some time I even have to release the paddle and then re-brake. This is dangerous, not safe at all. Break acting like this way since I brought it brand new. I notify dealer twice to check (1st year of service and then second year of service), they came back and says nothing wrong (this was under warranty). Now, when I went to dealer to report this.. dealer like your veh is 2013 and has 10K miles on it at August, 2016, let's change the rotor and break and then we can test it (are they serious?). I am scared to drive and have a feeling, I will crash with a braking system like this Prius. Something is wrong with some/few Prius - please address before someone dies.
I was driving on a busy city street and as I was approaching an intersection I stepped on the brake, but the brake failed. As I stepped on the brake pedal, the pedal went all the way down to the floor. I kept on hitting the brake but it was not working. My car was not stopping. The ABS and slip indicator lights turned on. I was on a panic because I would be hitting other cars and possibly people because I was approaching an intersection. Luckily the traffic light turned green as I approached so I made the turn and still I was not stopping. The car was continuously moving. As I was approaching another intersection, I tried stepping on the parking brake, it decelerated but not stopping. Before it almost hit another car on the intersection, it stopped while I was stepping on the parking brake real hard with abated breath.
I was driving straight on a city road with the flow of heavy traffic at about 40 miles per hour when the car in front of me came to a sudden stop. I immediately slammed on my brakes very hard. At the time I did this I had plenty of safe distance between us. But, the brakes never came on and I ended up running into the rear end of an SUV at apparently full speed without any noticeable slowdown. The brakes did not come on. They didn't grab, and they didn't make any screeching noise and there were no tire marks on the road. Also all of the airbags deployed and this was a frontal impact, which was very surprising and suffocating. A cloud of dust filled the cabin of the car and I could not breathe. I was literally suffocating until I was able to open the door and get out of the vehicle. I didn't even feel the seat belt tighten up before the crash. The brakes never felt like they came on at all.
I was traveling less than 25 mph on a city street when the car in front suddenly stopped. I panic stopped - moving my foot off the gas pedal and I believe that I hit the brake pedal. The brakes did not apply, and I rear-ended the car in front. I left no skid marks. Obviously I could have not actually pushed the brake pedal, but I sincerely believe that I did. The car brakes seem to be fine, so if the car failed to stop the problem had to be in the computer.
On 07/20/15 the brakes failed completely while driving. On 08/05/16 the same brakes failed again while driving. It is the same issue verified by two Toyota dealerships, (front left caliper and brake pad replacements needed). The car was bought new. The brakes have failed twice, they cite safety defects. On 08/15/16 I photographed left front brake issue. They claim they, "don't know why it's happening." It is clear the car is unsafe and should be replaced entirely. I reported the first brake failure 07/20/15 the brakes failed while driving. The dealer stated it was a safety related defect that they could not figure out why and thus sent the original brakes to Toyota for inspection & investigation. I never heard back. On 08/05/16 (12 months 15 days later, approx. 12,000 miles driven) the same brake failure happened again. Filled it with brake fluid on 08/15/16 make it to deerfield Toyota (closest) that stated I would have to take it to the original to avoid paying. Very dangerous. Then took to same, eric jones, lipton Toyota, fort laudredale, fl, as last time. He stated the replaced calipers and brake pads were defective. The car remains there, 10 days awaiting a back order. I inquired further on 08/22/16 to which Mr. Jones stated the car was bought new with defective brakes/ calipers and that they had replaced them 07/2015 but that they had replaced them with Toyota defective brakes again. (especially specifically the front left caliper and brake pads). Brakes have failed twice. It is clear the defective issue is from the car. Photos reveal that the replacements never resolved the issue as it has been occurring ever since then. To continue driving to see if a 3rd brake failure occurs is to risk mine and others on the road lives. 1st reported safety concern to NHTSA on 07/20/15, reference #10735054 : randy reid. I am scared. Help please.
When the driver has to slam on the brakes really quickly the car does not slowdown at all. The skid light comes on the dash board, but otherwise the car does not stop. This happens even on a dry surface, with no moisture on the surface, at speeds as low as 20-30 miles per hour. It almost always does it. If the driver lightly tap the breaks, then the car will decelerate, but not if the driver has to abruptly stopped. This is quilt a problem given that sometimes you need the car to stop suddenly it it simply won't at speeds of 20 more. The car just starts to skid. It will not stop or gain traction with the surface that it is on. This means that in a situation where the driver needs to hit the breaks all the way down, the car still won't stop. This problem is much worse if on wet or negative sloping roads. However, it can happen even on complete dry surface.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ennis, TX, USA