Model years › Toyota Prius V

2013 Toyota Prius V

Complaints about this year name lights far more often than the model's other years — 28% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 11%.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

Also unusual this year

• abs — 25% of complaints, 3× usual
• traction control — 10% of complaints, 4× usual
• actuator — 10% of complaints, 3× usual

What owners wrote

The brake actuator keeps buzzing every 3 seconds or so the entire time the car is on and even after I turn the car off and get out. The brakes make a wierd burping noise and the pedal depresses with each noise if I am stopped at a red light or stop sign with m…

Brake accumulator may have a leak. Three brake warning lights came on while driving; the parking brake, traction control, and ABS. After the lights came on I noticed the brake accumulator coming on more often and needing to apply more pressure on brake pedal w…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 18V684000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 15V449000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 13E070000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2013 Toyota Prius V? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Toyota Prius V was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.

This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.

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