2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Recalls, Ratings & Complaints

Incident: August 19, 2024 · Filed: August 21, 2024

1. The ABS system failed upon inspection at a dealership. Specifically the ABS accumulator and booster. 2. The ABS system put us at risk by failing prematurely, and traction control and ABS functions seemingly stopped working while driving on the road. 3. Yes, dealership confirmed the issue with a full diagnostic, and the part has a customer support program bulletin/TSB out for this specific issue. 4. inspected by manufacturer dealership service center. 5. Lights such as the parking brake, ABS, and (!) lit up while driving and the failure occurred at the same time.

Incident: May 25, 2024 · Filed: May 25, 2024

Today 05/25/2024 noticed a slight camber on the right rear wheel. Jacked up the car and removed the right rear to take a closer look and realized the rear axle/subframe was splitting in half along the weld point. If I hadn't caught this today and my daughter was driving it I'm confident she or others would have been killed or severely injured since most of her driving is highway related. The part that is blowing my mind is the vehicle was at the dealership twice in the last month and no one noticed when on a lift. The car is now permanently on jack stands till it can be repaired. I'm not sure it will even hold together to get onto a tow truck. I will not attempt driving do to safety specially others. I witnessed a tire go through a vehicle resulting in the death of someone.

Incident: October 5, 2023 · Filed: April 4, 2024

The contact owns a 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving down a winding road, the brake warning light and brake message suddenly activated and while depressing the brake pedal, the pedal extended to the floorboard and the vehicle would not immediately stop. The vehicle was later taken to the local service center who diagnosed that the brake booster, brake master cylinder, and brake booster pump assembly were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The contact was informed that the vehicle did not qualify for the manufacturers extended coverage regarding the failure. The failure mileage was 130,000.

Incident: February 5, 2024 · Filed: February 16, 2024

I was driving less than 55mph on freeway on February 5, 2024 when my vehicle went into an out of control spin, Brakes did not seem to work and unable to control vehicle until hit center divider on freeway, Spun 180 degrees and kept going back with no braking until hit center divider.

Incident: October 2, 2023 · Filed: October 5, 2023

The contact owns a 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH, the stabili-trak, ABS, and a several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated there were also audible alarms being sounded. The contact depressed the brake pedal and the brake pedal failed to respond. The contact stated that she was able to coast the vehicle off the highway and shifted into park(P) and turned off the vehicle. The contact turned off and turned on the vehicle and attempted to depress the brake pedal; however, the brake pedal was abnormally firm. The contact had the vehicle towed to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the brake booster pump assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

Incident: September 7, 2023 · Filed: September 18, 2023

2012 level 5 plug-in I was driving on the freeway with radar cruise control and the vehicle dash lit up with check pcs system ever warning light came on the brake petal was not there as normal it would go about half way down to engage very scary I took it to the dealership service said I need new brake booster installed not covered under warranty 130k miles

Incident: April 19, 2023 · Filed: May 4, 2023

Brakes failed while I was slowing down for a speed trap; if I had been stopping for traffic I would have been in somebody's back seat. There was already a class action lawsuit about this that Toyota settled out of court. We were supposed to receive notice about the extended warranty related to this but did not; additionally the dealership lied to us on two different occasions about our brakes being fine after they started behaving differently. If the dealership hadn't lied in both 2020, and 2022, my life wouldn't have been in jeopardy, and we wouldn't be paying thousands of dollars to fix a defective part. Why are you putting so many people's lives at risk by not forcing Toyota to issue a recall? All their hybrid braking systems over a decade of models have this issue. The hybrid specialist mechanic we ended up with said he sees several cars a week with this issue.

Incident: October 15, 2022 · Filed: January 16, 2023

The brake booster pump started pressuurizing frequently last year around 140,000 miles. Error lights and less responsive breaks this year so I called Toyota service they said bring it in. They said repair is over $3000. The mileage was just over 150000 and just over 10 year extended warranty I didn't know about for this problem coded c1391

Incident: September 30, 2022 · Filed: November 6, 2022

The brake pressure pump comes on every 2 seconds. The warning lights on the dash are on for brakes and abs. The car still stops but it reacts slower to pedal pressure. Dealer says it needs master cylinder and actuator pump for 3000$ at least. It is available for inspection, has 155,000 miles now, but pump has been hyperactive for about 12 mo. May be a hazard now, may fail completely ,I don't know. But too expensive to me to fix. Has only been inspected by autonation Toyota, not police etc. Pump was overactive for a year but right after anautomatic car wash the lights came on an the brake pedal got mushy. Then I called dealer. Apparently a common problem that was a recall for 2010 and silent recall after for later model gen 3s.

Incident: July 1, 2021 · Filed: August 25, 2022

I bought a first generation Toyota Prius PHEV in 2012. Apparently a Customer Support Program notice was sent out two years ago which I never received. For the last year or so my Prius has made a hissing sound when I stepped on the brakes unless I push extra hard on the pedal. Didn’t think anything of it until last month several lights went off. I took it to Big O Tires and they added brake fluid and the lights went away. Next month it went off again, I took it back and they suggested taking it to a dealer. I take it to Tustin Toyota they diagnose it as a Brake Booster and Pump problem. My issue is that I never received a mailer or email like I did for previous recalls. I did transfer ownership to my wife a while back, so I don’t know if that DMV administrative change impacted the mailer. It is a safety concern as my wife drives our two kids and the brake had signs but we did not take it in to the dealer until the failure lights lit up 11 months after the expiration. Is there a chance that a Customer Support Program becomes a Recall if NHTSA receives enough complaints?