TOYOTA · vehicle model
TOYOTA PRIUS C
278 NHTSA complaints and 4 safety recalls across model years 2012–2018.
- Complaints
- 278
- Recalls
- 4
- Model years
- 7
The TOYOTAPRIUS C appears in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database with 278 consumer safety complaints and 4 recall campaigns across 7 model years (2012–2018). That averages roughly 40 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
Complaint Filing Trend
NHTSA complaint volume by year filed (not model year).
Filings moved from 131 in 2017-2021 to 95 in 2022-2026, a fall of 27.5%. That is the 51th percentile of change across the 772 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 C 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 C?▼
What years of TOYOTA PRIUS C are available?▼
Does the TOYOTA PRIUS C have safety ratings?▼
What are the most common TOYOTA PRIUS C complaints?▼
How do I check if my TOYOTA PRIUS C has been recalled?▼
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 C 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.