2006 Toyota Prius problems
Owners have filed 1,690 complaints with NHTSA about the 2006 Toyota Prius. Lighting is the most reported problem area, at 56% of complaints. After that come brakes (13%) and electrical system (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,690 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 56% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 110 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 69 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 50,000 miles 1,455 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 138 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 294 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 444 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 198 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 121 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 75 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 57 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 31 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 28 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 24 |
| 200k+ miles | 45 |
What the data shows
Among the 1,455 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 50,000 miles. For lighting specifically, the median reported mileage is about 49,000 miles (855 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 110 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 69 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Prius with enough data (1,278 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
On 05/22/2009, my husband and his [xxx] had a car accident. My husband's car was hit from behind when he was driving a toyota prius with his friend sitting in the front passage seat. The backs of the chairs of the driver seat and front passage seat were move and broken.the seat back shaft damage failure. My husband and his friend both got hurt, and my husband was hospitalized for 6 days.
If you use the brakes and happen to go over a bump, pothole, slippery spot, etc., the brakes stop functioning for a few seconds. This has happened ever since I bought the car in 2006. Because it is a hybrid, I thought it was just something peculiar to the car (the date given is an estimate only). However, when they mentioned the brake fix for the 2010 prius, the problem seemed to be the same as I was experiencing.
I own a 2006 toyota prius. The front headlight on the drivers side, which is an hid lamp, works only intermittently. There is no pattern as to when it works and doesn't, and often I do not know when the problem is occurring because I can't see the headlamp (unless I can see the reflection on the back of another car). Obviously, this is a safety concern. I took the car in for service at my dealer and they said that toyota knows about the problem but refuses to fix it as a defect in the headlamp.
Intermittent lose of headlights that can be either the driver's or the passenger's lamp. System can be restored by recycling the headlight switch.