This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Have a 2010 Toyota Prius purchased in Dec. '09. Wife was approaching an intersection, braked, proceeded straight through the intersection, and as she crossed the crown of the street (for drainage), she experienced a momentary loss of braking. It has occurred one time so far. Nothing has been done to correct failure.
2010 Toyota Prius sometimes has very grabby brakes when reversing and applying slight force on brake pedal. Brake response is almost like a panic stop. This happens occasionally when starting car and putting in reverse. The remedy is to put car in park then put in reverse.
On two distinct occasions our 2010 Prius brakes appeared to disengage with the car continuing forward without slowing. This occurred regardless of how hard the brake pedal was pushed. This is not related to the accelerator pedal. In each instance, our local Toyota dealer was contacted and they insisted there was no problem.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the brakes failed while driving approximately 25 mph on a normal road surface. There was minimal hesitation when the brake pedal was engaged. The failure mileage was 1,200 and the current mileage was 9,700.
- Saint Paul, MN, USA
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On December 18, 2009 at 4:40 pm in the still-light late afternoon we struck a deer in the road with our 2010 Toyota Prius. The car was less than one month old and still on its first tank of gas. We have lived in a semi-rural area of New Jersey for over 30 years. Deer in the road is a frequent occurrence here. But in 30 years, though we have had countless sudden collision-avoidance stops in other cars including our 2007 Prius, we have never had an accident. On December 18, traveling at approximately 35 mph on dry, but aged asphalt we observed a deer entering the road. To avoid a collision, the brakes were jammed on. But this time the braking event seemed to occur in slow motion. It was the first sudden stop required of this new car. Eventually the ABS system engaged and the car came to a stop, but only after striking the deer with such force that the car sustained $2500 worth of front end damage. Lights, the bumper and front panels needed to be replaced. The airbags did not deploy. Police and insurance reports were filed. Toyota has recently acknowledged a software-based delay of one second in transferring braking from the electronic regenerative system to the hydraulic brakes. At 35 mph, that is an extra 51 feet traveled in that one second before the hydraulic brakes engage. That 51 feet would have provided more than enough distance to avoid the collision. Until this unsafe condition is resolved, we have taken our 2010 Prius off the road.
I have a 2010 Prius. We have had the problem with the brakes when we go over a bump. In addition, if I am driving in cruise control and have to put my foot on the brakes, there is a brief feeling of acceleration so instead I have gotten used to turning off the cruise control before putting my foot on the brakes thereby delaying braking for a brief moment.
Prius 2010. Brake problem. I was applying the brakes and the car was slowing down then as I drove over a bump the brakes stopped working and the car gained speed until the brakes worked again. This occurred a few times before. Toyota has recalled Prius 2010 in Japan for this problem. They need to do a recall here in the us.
The brakes were a problem in my Prius 2010 from beginning. It would accelerate on braking. Happened 3 times. I had no floor mats at that time in my car. I took it for my 1st oil change to koons Toyota, annapolis in Oct last yr and complained about it. At that time, I had put mats. They blamed it on mats. They test drove and said its fine. Told me to bring it back if problem persists. I kept driving and this last month's snow made it all apprant again. Would not brake but accelerate on snow, happened 4 times on one trip. I am not driving it anymore on snow days. Relying on Honda odyessy- much more stable. Its surprising, Toyota Prius 2010 was last to be recalled with so many complaints on board.
Approximately five times while driving my 2010 Toyota Prius I have experienced problems with stopping when one of my tires either is on a manhole cover or on uneven road(one tire in a pothole). When this occurs I am usually going approximately 30 mph. I apply the brake slowly to start to slow down for a stop sign. My right front tire rolls over a manhole cover and while my foot is still on the brake my car accelerates, lunging forward. This lasts for 1-2 seconds when I have no control over the vehicle. After this 1-2 seconds my brakes stop the vehicle. The entire time my foot has been on the brake. I know that if a car was in front of me at the time, I would have rear-ended it. Every time this has occurred my traction control light goes on. I have had my car to the dealer 3 times with the same complaint. They even took the car out for a drive with me and of course we could never recreate what has happened to me. I was never told that other people were experiencing the same problems. However, in talking to people at the dealership, they said it may be the traction control because it is supposed to make your tires spin slower if you loose traction. It seems as if it does the opposite and speeds the tire up. I asked if there was any way they could check my traction control system to make sure it was working properly, but was told there is no way to check it. I am not sure if anyone has thought about the traction control system. It seems like everyone is pointing fingers to the braking system. It might be worthwhile to check into the traction control as well. It seems like a short amount of time to not be in control. But for that 1-2 seconds my heart always drops because I have no control over my vehicle.
I was stopped at a traffic light. The street was uphill. My 2010 Prius began to roll back, although I was stepping on the brake. This continued for several seconds, while I tried to press hard on the brakes (they were not responsive). Luckily, there was no car behind me, otherwise, a crash would have ensued. Road conditions were wet and somewhat slippery at that time. This was my first experience with this brake failure, which lasted for a few seconds. I have not had a chance to contact the dealer yet.
Toyota Prius 2010 going downhill pushing the brakes to stop before red light in the uneven pavement the car suddenly loses all fours wheels brakes for a fraction of a second. When the wheel that passed the road bump the brakes come back again and stop the car. It happened three time in the last 4 months that I have the car. Same car defect in the fuel system. After leaving in the garage for 5 consecutive days, the car did not started automatically as it should do. It made for several seconds a metal to metal noise before the engine finally started to funtioning as usual. Seams like the engine starved of fuel. Same car excessive vibration on the driver side door panel when the radio or music is on. It stops when I hold with my knee tha panel.
When slowing down, such as to make a turn or to change to reverse, when the brake was applied, there was some acceleration also occurring. This has happened 4-5 times in past few months, the last time was about 7 or ten days ago. The car did brake with no further problem and no harm occurred and there was no damage.
I have experienced two problems with my 2010 Prius V that I purchased last summer. First, on approximately 6-8 occasions, my car has not stopped immediately when I applied the brakes. This occurred 3-4 times when I approached a stop sign on a road between my home and church. The surface of the road approaching the stop sign had been scraped and roughened to get ready for re-paving. As I approached and applied the brakes, my car surged forward for about a second, but I was able to stop. This happened 3-4 times in other locations, as well. It is an incredibly strange and helpless sensation. This problem was probably noted between late August 2009 and last occurred about three weeks ago. Even though I was forced to put an exact date in the field below, I have no idea now when the exact dates were in which this braking issue occurred. When I brought my car to the dealer for its first oil change, I described what had happened but was told this had nothing to do with the other problems that had been identified in the media as to other cars. The person at the service desk just kind of ignored my comments and was not interested in hearing about the braking issue further. The second problem I have experienced is that when using the cruise control accelerate function the car just continued accelerating even though I was no longer turning the cruise function lever. This stopped when I applied my brakes. It did cause me to stop using the cruise control during that trip though. The cruise control issue probably occurred last August in I-5.
I bought a 2010 Toyota Prius in August 2009. In addition to the braking problem I describe below, I also have an acceleration problem. I questioned my Toyota dealership about the fact that when I am braking over metal (manhole cover, repair lids, etc.) the car is quickly pushed forward about 3 to 4 feet. Several other new owners said they had the same experience. The dealer said that when they checked with Toyota, they were told that the hybrid battery motor used a magnet and the braking system to recharge it. And that the push forward was from the repelling action of the magnet. My sisters own a 2008 Camry hybrid and 2008 Prius, and they both have experienced this propelling motion when on metal surfaces also. The problem with the dealers advice to "not brake on metal surfaces" doesn't help in snow or water situations. Will this problem be fixed by the ABS brakes software change?? I also had several instances where the brake pedal would suddenly go to the floor and produce very little braking power. The problem was intermittent and the dealer said they found nothing wrong. Since then I have had several other instances where the brakes didn't work well and I almost hit the car in front of me. So I now drive with a lot of distance between me and other cars because I don't know when it will happen. I should say that I've had other cars with ABS brakes and this car does not feel like I have them. On slippery surfaces (snow, water) the brakes do not pump themselves like other ABS cars that I have driven. I have dropped it into low gear to help brake. These things have happened many times since I bought the car. I have been very careful and not had an accident yet.
(owner of Prius), I bought Prius 2010 model in Aug'2009 from koons arlington Toyota in arlington, va, us. Since then I do not have any issues up until today. When I cam out today to drive on 66 highway and also to get on to West ox road, I had recall complaints what was listed occurred to me. 1) above 60 miles speed when I was traveling and time to apply the brakes, I couldn't stop the car immediately, it took 2-3 min. To get to stop after traveling some distance though I didn't see how far I had to travel too. 2) other incident happen on same travel time on West ox road, I was approaching a traffic light near fox mill at speed around 12 - 15 miles / hour - I couldn't stop the car, it was accelerating only inspite me applying the brakes.
The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 5 mph into a parking space with the brake pedal engaged, the vehicle failed to slow down and crashed into a sidewalk. The front fender was damaged; however, the contact was able to drive the vehicle to his residence. The contact also complained to the dealer regarding the brake failure and was told that nothing was wrong with the brakes. The insurance company advised the contact to call the Toyota manufacturer and file a claim for which she is currently waiting for a response. The failure mileage was 3,000.
My 2010 Toyota Prius was delivered on December 15. I have observed that the brake pedal drops abruptly at times while slowing. I am not sure yet if it is after hitting a bump or just the transition of speeds. It is very sudden. It might result in loss of control if one is not aware of this.
Driving on slippery roads, but not unpassable, my 2010 Prius braking system failed to provide any assistance in prevention of slipping into a parked vehicle in my lane, resulting in 2900+ dollars of damage, plus, since the body shop was unable to properly inspect the damage without taking the car apart. I was found at fault for this accident, for which I fear my insurance rates will rise. I am a safe driver. Never having had an accident before. I new the car was not responding to the brake pedal as it should, and that was before this recall ever came to light. The accident happened on Jan. 22, 2010.
Shortly after date of purchase of my Prius I have reported to Toyota service department on numerous occasions that the brake system feels faulty: The brakes often lock or do not function at all when the car is at a slight incline either going up or down a road. There is also a constant high pitched noise emanating from the wheels. Toyota has claimed that it is a "characteristic feature" of the car and have been unable to locate the issue. Toyota has reviewed this issue at a minimum or 5 or 6 times and have not done any repairs to my car at all. The car was purchased and is always taken to keyes Toyota in van nuys, ca. I am submitting a date below with this form as requested, but the issue has been ongoing for many months since June 2009. I specifically expressed my concern to Toyota because I often have my infant and toddler niece and nephew in the car with me. Toyota claimed there is no reason for concern and that they "could find nothing wrong with the car".
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Highlands Ranch, CO, USA