2014 Toyota Prius problems
Owners have filed 288 complaints with NHTSA about the 2014 Toyota Prius. Brakes is the most reported problem area, at 36% of complaints. After that come electrical system (11%) and engine (6%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 288 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 37% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 48 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 22 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 28,000 miles 142 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 | 58 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 18 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 18 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 12 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 11 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 6 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 9 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 142 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 28,000 miles. For brakes specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (29 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 48 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 22 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2014 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Prius with enough data (141 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 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.
Brakes completely failed and I rear ended a car. I was stopping normally on a city street. According to dashcam I was traveling at about 25MPH. The car slowed to about 12MPH when the brakes went down to the floor and the car accelerated.
I was pulling into a convenience store in my 2014 prius. As I was gliding in, I depressed the brake pedal and the car kept going. I continued to press it and the car started to accelerate, I could feel the surge of power. I was completely unable to stop the car and ran into parking posts at the front of the store. All airbags were deployed. I got a cut on my forehead, an ambulance came but I declined and my husband drove me to the er later where I received treatment.
Point sources of light (I.e. Brake lights, headlights, traffic lights, etc.) at night time and to a less visible extent in the day time are duplicated or triplicated at distances through the front windshield. As the light source is closer to the car, the ghosting effect diminishes. This problem does not occur when looking out the side windows or rear windshield, but only occurs through the front windshield. This prism effect induces nausea and is incredibly distracting while driving.
Tl* the contact owns a 2014 toyota prius. The contact stated that the wire harness wiring was being damaged by animals biting the wiring. The vehicle was kept at the dealer for diagnostic testing for over a month, but it was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided no remedy. The VIN was unknown. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000.