2007 Toyota Prius - Complaint #1529022
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY filed January 6, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1529022 (ODI reference 11165482) concerns a 2007 Toyota Prius and was filed on January 6, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 2, 2018. The vehicle had 74,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Utah based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers, the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same Toyota Prius cohort independently describe similar structure:body failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2007 Toyota Prius shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE REAR HATCH IS EXTREMELY HARD TO OPEN IN THE SUMMER AND NOW IN THE WINTER EVEN HARDER. I FEEL THIS IS A SAFETY HAZARD. MY CAR IS PARKED UNDER A CARPORT WINTER AND SUMMER. I HAVE LESS THAN 80,000 MILES ON THE VEHICLE. I NEED TO BE ABLE TO GET IN THE REAR HATCH TO CHANGE A TIRE OR GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER IN CASE OF EMERGENCY AND I SOMETIMES CAN'T GET IT TO OPEN. IS THERE SOME WAY TOYOTA CAN HELP MAKE THIS RIGHT. THE RUBBER PART THAT YOU PRESS IS HARDER THAN A STICK AND WON'T RELEASE. THIS HAPPENS SOME TIMES AT THE GROCERY STORE PARKING LOT OR AT ANY STORE PARKING LOT. SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS WHEN I ARRIVE HOME AND CAN'T GET MY GROCERIES OUT BECAUSE THE HATCH WON'T LET IT RELEASE. IS THIS A DEFECT THAT CAN BE CORRECTED?
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1529022 |
| ODI Number | 11165482 |
| Date Filed | January 6, 2019 |
| Failure Date | September 2, 2018 |
| VIN | JTDKB20U673 |
Similar STRUCTURE:BODY Complaints for 2007 Toyota Prius
catalytic converter is easily accessible and there should be a recall to have a safety operation and stop all these cars from being sold in the market because there is a rise in many thefts of the cat
THE MAIN DASH.DISPLAY, SPEEDOMETER, WILL NOT SHOW UP DUE TO ELECTRIC PROBLEM. POWER FROM REAR, AUX, BATTERY IS INTERRUPTED SOME HOW. THE CRUISE CONTROL WILL BE INOP IN THIS SITUATION. THERE IS NO WA
SOMETIMES THE DASH WON'T LIGHT UP OTHER TIMES THE CAR WON'T SHUT OFF PLUS ON THE TAILGATE THE LITTLE ELECTRICAL PIECE FELL OFF WHERE YOU OPEN THE TRUNK
FIRST ISSUE IS WITH THE REAR LATCH BEING USELESS SOMETIMES DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER AS THE MOLDING IS ALL MELTED AND ACCESS TO THE TRUNK BEING IMPOSSIBLE. SECOND AND MOST IMPORTANT I'VE NOTICED TH
THE BACK LATCH TO THE TRUNK/HATCH IS DEFECTIVE. THE RUBBER EXTERIOR PART HAS MELTED AND IS ALL GOOEY AND STICKY. IN THE WINTER TIME IT FREEZES. WE ARE UNABLE TO OPEN OR USE THE TRUNK. THIS IS A SAFETY
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.