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ProblemsByVin Index / 2018-TOYOTA-PRIUS / COMPLAINTS
Full complaint record · NHTSA

2018 Toyota Prius owner complaints

34 complaints filed with NHTSA on this vehicle , including 4 reporting a crash, fire, injury, or fatality. Showing the 300 most recent — grouped by category for scanning.

other 6 complaints shown

10/31/2023 Crash ODI #11552860.0

Someone rear-ended my Prius and they were driving a Ford 250 truck pulling a large flatbed truck that had a huge box on it. My seat went forward and backwards - I slammed my knee under the dashboard and then slammed by head into the headrest and I could not reach the pedals after this. I have repeatedly asked the collision center to look at it because there is nothing about it on the report of the estimate of repairs. My adult son was a passenger in the front and his seat didn't move.

07/18/2018 ODI #11112078.0

Horrible back pain caused by the prius' driver seat. Car seat should not pass standards. Extremely unhealthy.

07/10/2018 ODI #11110559.0

Connect the phone to stereo, activate device assistant, phone call or play audio from the device through stereo. The stereo will reboot. This has occurred a number of times during the first couple weeks of ownership. Doesn't matter if vehicle is in motion or not.

07/02/2025 160,000 mi ODI #11670706.0

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Prius. The contact stated the trunk opened at a slow speed and failed to remain open. The dealer was contacted and informed of the failure. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle needed to be taken in to be inspected. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not covered under recall. The manufacturer directed the contact back to the dealer for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.

06/22/2022 ODI #11470356.0

UNKNOWN My car started stalling when it comes to a full stop. I.e. if I stop at a red light or stop sign, and I then press the gas, it stalls. It might inch forward, but it doesn’t really accelerate. This happened last year, and I took it to the dealer. They couldn’t reproduce the results, and they could only suggest changing my small 12V battery. Today, it stalled 8 times, between 2 short drives. Each at a stop sign only travelling ~5 miles total. I have an appointment at the dealer but this is exactly what happened last year with no diagnosis. No check engine light is on or anything.

06/22/2018 ODI #11103383.0

Back up alarm too loud, this is a safety issue. Fact it is so loud you can not hear the rear cross-traffic alert or any person outside the car yelling. Toyota needs to either develop a method so the owner can adjust the backup alarm volume or have the dealer turn down the volume free of charge.

lighting 3 complaints shown

5 total in this category · moderate · avg repair $250 · see lighting cluster analysis →
12/10/2019 16,000 mi ODI #11288235.0

Auto high beam feature intermittently cuts out and then resumes, especially frequently in rainy weather. While off, I cannot engage the high beam without first shutting off the ahb feature. Many similar reports regarding Toyota vehicles; see https://www.rav4world.com/threads/auto-high-beam-issues.242329/

11/08/2019 26,000 mi ODI #11278866.0

The car is inadequate in the winter. When it snows I can't keep the windows clean. They changed the fittings and I can't even put winter blades on the car. Also, and this applies to almost all new cars as well, the LED lights freeze over. It's a safety hazard not to have lights that work. And it's a safety hazard to have to get out of the car in dangerous conditions to try and scrape ice off the windows and lights. The front and rear lights get caked with ice and snow. This picture is of my windshield after an hour of warming up. The wipers stay caked with ice. And when I turn them on, this is what happens. They smear the windshield with ice. They smear it with water too. I can't squeegee water with ice. I'd love to trade it in, but everyone has LED lights. They're a safety ha

11/07/2019 25,000 mi ODI #11278660.0

Automatic high beams dim and then fail to brighten intermittently. When driving, automatic high beams function as intended then the dash indicator spontaneously turns off and the headlights fail to brighten. Vehicle has been to the dealership service department twice for this. The second time , the dealer was able to duplicate the problem both in my vehicle and in a 2019 prius from the inventory. Toyota technical assistance is adamant that the problem is normal functionality. I fail to understand how the high beams not brightening when they should during night driving is normal functionality.

brakes 2 complaints shown

12/05/2024 39,000 mi Crash ODI #11629049.0

The contact owns a 2018 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that while in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The brake pedal was applied but failed to respond. The driver crashed into the front passenger side of the Lexus. The vehicle continuously moved forward. The contact was eventually able to pull over safely. The pre-collision malfunction warning light illuminated. The brake malfunction light was flashing. The air bags did not deploy. There was no reported fire or injury. A police report was filed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who could not determine the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was then towed to an autobody center where it remained. The manufacturer was contacted, but no additional assistance was provided. The

06/25/2018 ODI #11103813.0

This is a brand new car I purchased. There is a high-pitched noise that the brake pedal makes when you depress the brake pedal. I thought this was part of the beeps the car makes, but it's not. The brake booster was replaced, but the brake pedal continues to make a high-pitched chirping noise. I returned to Toyota service to have it checked out, but they said that this is a normal sound that other priuses make. This concerns me that the brakes are defective since I've never heard of brakes that sound like this.

body 2 complaints shown

3 total in this category · severe · avg repair $1,500 · see body cluster analysis →
10/26/2019 4,500 mi Crash ODI #11271167.0

I was driving up to my garage on the side of my house on a clear day, early afternoon. I was traveling about 3 MPH and tried to stop to park in front of the garage door. I depressed the brake pedal and it did not engage, but lurched forward into the garage, crashing into the garage and causing damage to both the garage and the auto.

10/11/2019 3,000 mi ODI #11267998.0

The heat shield on the underside of the car, by the storage battery came lose while driving and was damaged. It is held in place by only four plastic pins. The car is so low to the ground that it is hard to clear normal speed bumps let alone older larger ones. We were traveling a housing addition less than 20 MPH and just went over an older high speed-bump and puddle when it occurred. We drove the last 100 or so feet home and wired it up out of the way so the car could be driven at low speed too the dealership. The dealership told us this was damage due to our driving negligence ie: "we hit something". When this shield comes off it falls straight into the vehicle exhaust pipe and ground, there is no simple way to remove the piece until a full repair can be completed. It must be wired up of

visibility 2 complaints shown

5 total in this category · moderate · avg repair $350 · see visibility cluster analysis →
10/06/2018 22,000 mi ODI #11138822.0

Last year,june 2017, while the car was parked we noticed there was a hairline crack on the windshield. We received some quotes saying it would be about $900 to fix. So we decided to go with an adhesive injection and paid about $50 for someone to come fix it. However, after a month, it spread. We had no choice but to replace the windshield. Last month, same thing happened. Car was parked, nothing hit it. Same hairline crack. I haven't fixed it because of the heavy expense. But it has spread. Checked online to see if anyone else has the same issue and found there's a class action lawsuit for this but it's for 2014-2016 Toyota prius. Apparently they have not fixed this problem for the 2017 prius. Also, there's a recall for my car for another issue.

07/22/2018 ODI #11112886.0

While driving on the highway in the rain at 55mph a very small pebble/bug struck the lower right windshield below the wiper. It was not very loud, but did create a crack in the windshield with a few minutes. Within a few days the crack has spread across the entire windshield.

wheels 1 complaint shown

12/14/2018 1,020 mi ODI #11161416.0

New car just over 1000 miles. Rear tire blows on freeway, no pothole or anything hit. Since owning the car I've heard a faint thudding when going over 65 miles an hour. No indicator light and the tires felt hard, not deflated when I checked. So I thought it might just be an uneven road making that sound. Now I believe it was the tire. I have tons of photos if needed. I fishtailed on the freeway and was close enough to an exit that I got off on it. Luckily did not cause an accident.

cruise control 1 complaint shown

08/30/2019 6,000 mi Crash ODI #11252385.0

Tl* the contact owns a 2018 Toyota prius. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle the vehicle had experienced unintended acceleration and crashed into a second parked vehicle. No injuries were reported. A police report was taken at the scene. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer dch Toyota (1504 us hwy 1 north brunswick nj) but the cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 6,000.

electrical 1 complaint shown

08/26/2025 ODI #11683274.0

Driver door lock actuator not working. This seems to be a common problem for Toyota over the last decade, but they yet to put more vehicles to their recall list. Actuator just stopped working. I have to use key out of FOB to manually open. This is a safety issue if I’m trying to get in my car quickly for safety reasons and it does not open.

engine 1 complaint shown

07/10/2019 8,600 mi ODI #11230722.0

Tl* the contact owns a 2018 Toyota prius. While driving 20 MPH, the electrical system failed and everything in the vehicle shut down. The vehicle decelerated and lost power. While the vehicle coasted, the engine restarted on its own. The vehicle was driven to Toyota vallejo (201 auto mall parkway, vallejo, ca 94591, 707-552-4545) to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be replicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 8,600.

powertrain 1 complaint shown

07/06/2022 ODI #11472644.0

Stopped at red light, then the car didn't accelerate when hitting gas. Engine revs but the car does not accelerate. It happened multiple time when the car was out in sun with full ac on(100f). Happened once in intersection and almost got hit head on

Showing 300 of 34 total complaints. The full federal record is available at nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2018/Toyota/Prius#complaints.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) owner complaint database. Last synced 2026-06-14. Complaints are owner-submitted and unverified — the existence of a complaint is not proof of a defect, but a pattern of complaints around the same component is a signal worth weighing. Verify any specific filing at nhtsa.gov.
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