10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 2 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 45,870 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
The car would not accelerate as expected. It behaved as if the fuel injector was not working properly. We were not able to keep a consistent speed and the motor started to have a rough idle sound. The hybrid system stopped working, the icon of the batteries turned purple and would not recharge when stopping. We took it into the dealership, the service person they said it was a software and emissions miss-fire issue. It will take a part to be replaced and software updated. Toyota sent out a memo to them stating this might happen and this is how to fix it. It seems since they are warning service staff to be aware of this that maybe they should take care of it before it happens and not have me pay over $900 and the stress of it happening on the freeway and then having me get it fixed.
- Camarillo, CA, USA
Toyota issued safety recalls E0E and F0R for the failure of the hybrid inverter. If the inverter had not failed yet, the Toyota's remedy is a 'software re-flash'. the software reflash 'remedy' is not sufficient. There have been an excessive number of inverter failures after the software re-flash 'remedy' for these recalls has been completed. This is very dangerous to drivers, as it leads to unintended deceleration ' the prius spontaneously entering 'limp-home mode' or even a 'hybrid system shut down'. this is dangerous as in results in drastic reductions, if not the complete loss, of power. These unintended deceleration occurrences predominantly happen while the vehicles are in motion ' many times at high speeds. Between only two dealerships, we have documented approximately 100 inverter failures after the E0E and F0R software reflash 'remedy' has been completed. During one inverter failure, which took place after receiving the E0E software re-flash, excessive heat was generated within the inverter that melted steel bolts and created an electrical arc that blasted two holes through the aluminum case of the inverter assembly. The driver stated if she had experienced this failure while on the freeway, 'she wouldn't be here anymore.' The vehicle was a 2012 model year and at the time of the failure it had only 31,222 miles on it. Instances of unintended deceleration will continue to grow daily until Toyota implements a sufficient remedy that will prevent these losses of power from occurring. Attached please find a report detailing, for only two dealerships, the inverter failures we've experienced after the E0E and F0R software re-flash remedies have been completed. Also attached, please find the photographs of the inverter which experienced the electrical arc. Please consider that "date this happened" as the filing date of this report.
- San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
Since the vehicle was purchased, the odometer has been off by about 2 miles per hour at 65, and 3-4 miles per hour at 95. This means that the oboe get is recording 4% higher mileage than what is actually being driven. My car is not alone, many Prius V models have the same problem. Dealership did not have a solution. This not only voided my 100,000 mile warranty 3-4K miles early, but it makes the fuel economy look better on paper than it actually is- a selling point that Toyota takes advantage of. To me, this is just as bad as what Volkswagen did with their diesel vehicles.
- Enosburg Falls, VT, USA
Halfway through parallel parking, right rear of car by curb, foot lightly on brake, was about to shift to D and was looking around for any pedestrians short-cutting in front of car before shifting, when car accelerated, not stopping in spite of brake, until smashing into tree. (I was thrown around but no one else was hurt, luckily)
- Cambridge, MA, USA
Was driving at approx 20mph on a side road when the car completely lost power and went dead. All the dashboard warning lights lit up at the same time. Lost steering control (the steering wheel became very heavy and was unable to steer). Managed to coast to a stop a 100 feet away (since the car had absolutely no power). Turned off the power button, turned it back on and the car started running again. Took it to the dealer the next day. They ran diagnostics, found codes (listed below) which suggested that the smart key lost communication with the car. They kept the car for an extra day, ran the diags overnight just to see if they can reproduce but, was told that they were not able to reproduce the problem. No idea what may have caused the issue. The smart key was sitting on the center console. Below are the smart key related codes that were recorded: U0100 - lost communication with ECM/PCM "a" U0142 - lost communication with body control module "B" U0155 - lost communication with instrument panel cluster (ipc) control module U0293 - lost communication with hybrid vehicle control system please help investigate this as this is potentially a very serious issue. By god's grace, there was no other vehicle on the road, was going at a low speed and thank god, this did not happen on a highway at highway speed. Thanks.
- Chappaqua, NY, USA
- Nyack, NY, USA