2007 Toyota Prius
Complaints about this year name hatch far more often than the other years of this generation — 8% of them, about 8× the usual rate of 0.9%.
Generation 1 of the Toyota Prius, which began in 2004 and ran to 2009. 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 | 2,003 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 162 |
| Involving a crash | 124 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 46 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- rubber — 7% of complaints, 7× usual
- open — 8% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
HATCHBACK WILL NOT UNLOCK. THE RUBBER THAT COVERS THE LATCH HAS DEGRADED TO THE POINT WHERE IT IS STICKY IN THE WARM WEATHER AND ROCK SOLID IN THE COLD WEATHER WHERE YOU CAN NO LONGER PRESS IT TO OPEN THE TRUCK.
THE RUBBER ON THE HATCHBACK WAS MELTED AND, WHEN OPENED, WOULD COVER HER IN BLACK TAR. THE DEALER STATED THAT THE HATCH HANDLE COVER NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED AND THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V537000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 12V536000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 09V388000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- 10V036000 EQUIPMENT 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 2007 Toyota Prius? What happened to yours?
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