Toyota · vehicle model
Toyota Prius
15,409 NHTSA complaints and 91 safety recalls across model years 2000–2026.
- Complaints
- 15,409
- Recalls
- 91
- Model years
- 27
The verdict
The Toyota Prius pairs above-average complaint volume with 91 recalls (heavily recalled).
- 1st pctile
- complaint volume, US models
- 91
- recall campaigns
Toyota Prius vs. all tracked models
Total NHTSA ODI complaints across models with substantive safety data
15,409 Higher than most more complaints than 99% of 3,088 models
tracked vehicle models, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more models. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · August 2026
The ToyotaPrius appears in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database with 15,409 consumer safety complaints and 91 recall campaigns across 27 model years (2000–2026). That averages roughly 571 complaints per model year. Report counts can differ between model years for many reasons; this dataset does not establish the cause of a difference.
Complaint volume on a nameplate alone is not a reliability verdict: a long-running bestseller can accumulate more filings than a low-volume niche model because more vehicles are on the road. The table below shows report counts and published NHTSA crash-test ratings side by side for each model year. The filing-year histogram shows the timing of submitted reports, not a causal trend.
NHTSA has 51 investigation files tied to this model, with 1 currently open. Investigation records, complaint reports, and recall campaigns each provide different context. Use the official NHTSA VIN lookup and the underlying notices to research a specific vehicle; PlainCars does not infer a vehicle-risk or pricing conclusion from these records.
Complaints by Year
| Year | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 |
| 2025 | 19 |
| 2024 | 20 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2022 | 26 |
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2020 | 23 |
| 2019 | 51 |
| 2018 | 43 |
| 2017 | 125 |
| 2016 | 211 |
| 2015 | 189 |
| 2014 | 261 |
| 2013 | 514 |
| 2012 | 530 |
| 2011 | 651 |
| 2010 | 3468 |
| 2009 | 637 |
| 2008 | 1891 |
| 2007 | 2451 |
| 2006 | 1688 |
| 2005 | 1298 |
| 2004 | 737 |
| 2003 | 123 |
| 2002 | 201 |
| 2001 | 215 |
| 2000 | 4 |
Complaint Filing Trend
NHTSA complaint volume by year filed (not model year).
Filings moved from 2,770 in 2017-2021 to 1,507 in 2022-2026, a fall of 45.6%. That is the 44th percentile of change across the 763 nameplates with enough filings in both windows to compare, where 0 is the steepest fall and 100 the steepest rise.
Filing volume, not a reliability verdict: counts also move with how many vehicles are on the road, how old they are, and whether a recall drew attention. Computed from this portal's NHTSA filing-year records over the same two windows the trend rankings use.
Year filed (bar labels show the complaint count).
Compare ToyotaPrius to Similar Vehicles
NHTSA Investigations 1 Open
Brake Actuator Valve Wear
Electrical problems / No-start
Joyson Passenger Side Air Bag Cushion
Battery Hold Down Bracket Thermal Events
Brake Actuator Valve Wear
Frame corrosion
Upper Steering Column Separation
Yaw rate sensor malfunction
Low-speed surging
Low-speed surging
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is the Toyota Prius?▼
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Data sources
Data vintage: August 2026. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. Toyota Prius totals are aggregated from the linked NHTSA model-year rows; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.