2003 TOYOTA PRIUS — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 91 complaints · 1 recalls
Most-reported system: STEERING (37 complaints · 40.7%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 4
  • Fires 0
  • Injuries 4
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 2002 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution STEERING appears in 37 of 91 owner complaints (40.7%) in this vehicle snapshot. STEERING: 37 complaints, 40.7% of reports STEERING 37 · 40.7% · 1 crash reports SERVICE BRAKES: 14 complaints, 15.4% of reports SERVICE BRAKES 14 · 15.4% ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 10 complaints, 11.0% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 10 · 11.0% TIRES: 5 complaints, 5.5% of reports TIRES 5 · 5.5% VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 5 complaints, 5.5% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 5 · 5.5% ENGINE: 4 complaints, 4.4% of reports ENGINE 4 · 4.4% FUEL SYSTEM: 2 complaints, 2.2% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 2 · 2.2% POWER TRAIN: 2 complaints, 2.2% of reports POWER TRAIN 2 · 2.2% AIR BAGS: 1 complaints, 1.1% of reports AIR BAGS 1 · 1.1% · 1 crash reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 34 complaints, 37.4% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 34 · 37.4% · 2 crash reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
STEERING 37 40.7% 1 crashes · 0 fires
SERVICE BRAKES 14 15.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 10 11.0% 0 crashes · 0 fires
TIRES 5 5.5% 0 crashes · 0 fires
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 5 5.5% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ENGINE 4 4.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 2 2.2% 0 crashes · 0 fires
POWER TRAIN 2 2.2% 0 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 1 1.1% 1 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 34 37.4% 2 crashes · 0 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Apr 2003; the first recall shown was reported in Jun 2011. 2003-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2003-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2003-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2004-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2005-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2005-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2006-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2008-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q1: 17 owner reports 17 2010-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2011-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2012-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2013-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2014-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2020-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2020-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2022-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Apr 2003 Jan 2023 Recall campaign 11V304000 ◆ Recall campaign 11V304000 Investigation DP22005 ● Investigation DP22005
  • Campaign 11V304000 was reported 2,897 days after the first earlier complaint mapped to its component.
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2003-Q2 Owner reports 3
2003-Q3 Owner reports 2
2003-Q4 Owner reports 2
2004-Q1 Owner reports 3
2004-Q4 Owner reports 1
2005-Q2 Owner reports 1
2005-Q4 Owner reports 3
2006-Q3 Owner reports 1
2006-Q4 Owner reports 2
2007-Q1 Owner reports 3
2007-Q3 Owner reports 2
2007-Q4 Owner reports 1
2008-Q1 Owner reports 4
2008-Q3 Owner reports 2
2008-Q4 Owner reports 1
2009-Q3 Owner reports 3
2009-Q4 Owner reports 2
2010-Q1 Owner reports 17
2010-Q2 Owner reports 2
2010-Q3 Owner reports 2
2010-Q4 Owner reports 1
2011-Q1 Owner reports 4
2011-Q2 Owner reports 1
2011-Q3 Owner reports 5
2012-Q2 Owner reports 1
2012-Q3 Owner reports 1
2012-Q4 Owner reports 1
2013-Q3 Owner reports 3
2013-Q4 Owner reports 1
2014-Q1 Owner reports 1
2014-Q2 Owner reports 3
2014-Q3 Owner reports 1
2015-Q2 Owner reports 1
2015-Q4 Owner reports 1
2016-Q2 Owner reports 1
2016-Q3 Owner reports 1
2017-Q1 Owner reports 1
2017-Q3 Owner reports 1
2019-Q2 Owner reports 1
2020-Q1 Owner reports 1
2020-Q3 Owner reports 2
2022-Q4 Owner reports 1
Recall campaign 1 11V304000
Defect investigation 1 DP22005
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (1)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

  1. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 11V304000

    Report date
    Component:
    STEERING
    Consequence:
    LOSS OF POWER STEERING, PARTICULARLY WHEN AN OPERATOR IS ACTIVELY INTENDING TO STEER THE VEHICLE, MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF A CRASH.
    Remedy:
    TOYOTA WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE NUTS IN THE STEERING LINKAGE FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON JULY 8, 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT TOYOTA AT 1-800-331-4331.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot 2026-08-21
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 91 complaints · page 1 of 4

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot 2026-08-21
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources