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What 18 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Toyota Prius Phev

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (18)Crash / fire / injury (1)Electrical system (5)Body & structure (3)Latches & locks (3)Wheels (3)Brakes (2)Tires (2)Driver assistance (1)Seat belts (1)Steering (1)Transmission & drivetrain (1)

1 of 18 complaints match · Driver assistance · clear filters

Aug 25, 2023Driver assistance

The car was being driven on US287 south from Wichita Falls, TX toward Fort Worth, Texas on an open road, in the middle of the afternoon, in clear sunshine, no clouds, no rain. On a stretch of the highway where the road dipped down into a gully, and had a normal rise afterwards, the automatic braking system activated, gave a warning of an impending collision and applied the brakes to stop the car HARD. Luckily, there was no traffic ahead or behind the vehicle at the time of the incident. The car came almost to a stop before it realized that there was no danger ahead of the vehicle and the automatic braking system released from the emergency situation at about 5 mph. If there had been cars on the highway following the vehicle, it is doubtful that they would have been able to slow down in time to prevent a rear end collision. The vehicle was slowed down in a maximum breaking action on an open highway, with an open road ahead of the vehicle. The system interpreted a hill ahead of the car as a danger to be avoided.

NHTSA ODI 11540756

Working with the data? Download all 18 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 20, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2023 Toyota Prius Phev verdict →