2012 Toyota Prius problems
Owners have filed 546 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Toyota Prius. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 37% of complaints. After that come electrical system (10%) and lighting (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 546 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 37% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 76 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 59 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 40,000 miles 315 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 | 109 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 40 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 32 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 27 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 30 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 24 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 19 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 12 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 10 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Among the 315 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 40,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 95,000 miles (78 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 76 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 59 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Prius with enough data (242 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.
I was coming up the freeway off ramp and my car just turned off I had no braking I hit six other cars rolled over and was severly imjured in the hospital forr three days
I was driving on I-45 at 55 or 60 MPH and the brake pedal went to the floor. It is still that way, brake fluid level is ok. Toyotacare plan is expired. Is there a recall for these vehicles? Thanks
Vehicle stability control, anti-lock brake, and traction control lights intermittently turn off. A few times it shut down the hybrid system and tell me to stop . Now all those lights are all on and I am driving without vss, ABS and traction control. Braking is getting harder. I took it to the dealer and they told me the cost is $3500. I did some research and found out that this is a known prius problem problem