2017 Toyota Prius
This year drew an ordinary 101 complaints for a Toyota Prius — the model's median is 179. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.7% of them mention middle, against 10.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 3 of the Toyota Prius, which began in 2016 and ran to 2022. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 101 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 179 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 54 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- middle — 26.7% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: middle, driving highway, per, far.
- denied — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 0.5% across the model's other years (12.7×). Owners wrote it as: denied, emissions, spark.
- area — 11.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: area, daughter, out parking, reversing.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
CAR HAS LOUD CONTINUOUS CREAKING/SQUEAKING NOISE FROM LEFT REAR OF THE CAR. SOUNDS LIKE IT IS COMING FROM THE SUSPENSION OR BODY FLEXING WHEN DRIVING. IT OCCURS WHEN TURNING AND REVERSING OUT OF PARKING SPACES. ALSO HAPPENS WHEN CAR IS GOING UPHILL AND DOWNHIL…
WHIRLING SOUND EMANATING FROM FRONT AREA... GOT PROGRESSIVELY WORSE. FINALLY TOOK TO DEALERSHIP, EVEN THOUGH NO WARNING LIGHTS, AND THEY INDICATED BRAKE ACTUATOR BAD, TO THE TUNE OF $3400. SO I GAVE MY OTHER PRIUS (06) TO MY DAUGHTER TO DRIVE AND SAME NOISE, S…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V579000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 17V295000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V741000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Prius 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.
Own a 2017 Toyota Prius? What happened to yours?
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