2012 TOYOTA PRIUS C Complaints

My wife hit a deer at highway speed. The airbags deployed. The drivers side lower airbag deployed in the footwell. The driver was unable to get to the break paddle to stop due to the airbag at het feet. She had to use the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. That worked, but she had limited vision of the road ahead and it took some time for her to think of using the emergency brake.

I was driving with my 10 year old son on local city streets. I was approaching a busy intersection while going approximately 35 miles when my car just turned off with an error message about the hybrid system failing. I stopped the car and put it in park while trying to turn the car back on, but I kept getting the same hybrid system error message. While the stoplight was red, I got my son out of the car and over to the sidewalk because this was a dangerous situation where anyone not paying attention could've slammed into my stalled car (see picture of black Toyota Prius). I called AAA to get it towed. About 20 minutes later, a cop car pulled up to block my stalled car and then got it pushed to the side of the road (picture attached) because of how dangerous it was sitting there blocking traffic at a major intersection. My car was taken to Cabe Toyota dealership where they diagnosed it with a failed IPM card, which would cost around $4,000 to replace. I did a simple Google search and found that 80,000 Prius from 2012 - 2014 have been recalled for this EXACT reason. There have also been class action lawsuits surrounding this IPM failure due to its extreme safety risks to anyone inside a car that will just die in the middle of driving it, especially when their fail-safe system does not get triggered with this particular IPM failure. As of right now, the car is available for inspection because it's still at Cabe Toyota. The invoice shows that the IPM card needs to be replaced. There were NOT any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to the car shutting off while driving it. It had been running just fine.

2012 PRIUS C SUDDEN INVERTER FAILURE CAUSED CAR TO STALL ON BUSY STREET, PUTTING DRIVER AT SERIOUS RISK. CAR IS WELL MAINTAINED NEWER MODEL WITH MODERATELY LOW MILEAGE AND NO PRIOR ISSUES. CAR IS NO LONGER OPERABLE UNTIL INVERTER IS REPLACED. TOYOTA HAS HAD PRIOR LAWSUITS, COMPLAINTS AND RECALLS DUE TO INVERTER FAILURE. MY SPECIFIC VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED IN RECALL, BUT SAME INCIDENT OCCURRED AS DESCRIBED IN RECALL BULLETINS POSTED BY TOYOTA AND COMPLAINTS ON NHTSA.GOV WEBSITE. TOYOTA REFUSES TO INCLUDE MY VIN UNDER RECALL.

DRIVERS SIDE DOOR LOCK MALFUNCTION.DRIVERS SIDE DOOR WILL NOT OPEN WITH KEYLESS REMOTE OR BY RESTING MY HAND ON THE DOOR HANDLE WHICH SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY OPEN ALL DOORS. I TRIED USING ELECTRONIC UNLOCK BUTTON INSIDE DRIVERS SIDE DOOR AND ALSO WON'T OPEN.IT APPEARS TO BE A BAD DRIVERS SIDE UNLOCK ACTUATOR WHICH HAS SO MANY COMPLAINTS THAT ITS OBVIOUS THIS PART IS NOT BUILT CORRECTLY. IT IS A SAFETY CONCERN BECAUSE YOU CAN GET LOCKED INSIDE VEHICLE.

I WAS DRIVING MY 2012 PRIUS C AND I'M MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC MY CAR LOST ITS POWER, THANKFULLY I WAS ABLE TO PARK THE CAR. I GOT IT TOWED TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD ME IT'S THE INVERTER. I ADVISED THAT I HAD READ ON RECALLS ON THEM THEY SAID MY CAR DIDN'T HAVE A RECALL THEY ARE WANTING ME TO PAY 4K FOR A NEW INVERTER ( WHICH I KNOW IT'S THE SAME ISSUE OTHER 2012 PRIUS C HAVE HAD ISSUES TOO). IT'S UPSETTING THAT NO INVESTIGATION IS TAKING PLACE JUST SORRY AND OHH BY THE WAY THE EMPLOYEE AT THE DEALERSHIP HANDLING MY CASE OFFERED ME $200 FOR MY CAR SAID I WOULD NOT GET MORE THAN $400 IF I TRIED SELLING IT LIKE THAT. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL AND CAN'T EVEN TRUST MY OWN DEALERSHIP.

IGUALMENTE QUE LOS CARROS PRIUS REGULARES, EL CUAL HAY UNA GARANTIA EXTENDIDA, MI EL AUTO DAO LA BOMBA DE FRENOS, LO CUAL ES MUY COSTOSA, ESTA GARANTIA SOLO ES SOLO PARA PRIUS REGULARES IGUALMENTE UTILIZAN EL MISMO SISTEMA. SE DEBE VERIFICAR PORQUE NO CUBRE LOS OTROS AUTOS YA QUE TIENEN EL MISMO SISTEMA.

INNER LEFT TIE ROD LOOSE, REVEALED WHEN ANNUAL INSPECTION CONDUCTED. TOYOTA HAS NO PART NUMBER FOR THE INNER TIE ROD (EST PRICE $30.00) SO MUST PURCHASE ENTIRE STEERING ASSEMBLY (PART COST = $1,000; LABOR ABOUT THE SAME).

MY 2012 PRIUS C WITH 90,000 MILES BEGAN TO LOSE POWER/SPEED DRIVING WHEN CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM WARNING SUDDENLY CAME ON TONIGHT. IT WAS UNRESPONSIVE TO THE GAS PEDDLE, EVEN AT FULL THROTTLE. DID NOT ALLOW ENOUGH TIME TO PULL TO THE SIDE OF A BUSY ROAD BEFORE IT LOST ALL ABILITY TO DRIVE, LEAVING ME STALLED NEAR INTERSECTION. A STRANGER HELPED PUSH MY CAR OFF THE MAIN ROAD UNTIL AAA SENT A TOW TRUCK. HAD THIS OCCURRED ONE MILE LATER, I WOULD'VE STALLED ON THE 25 SOUTHBOUND FREEWAY GOING FROM LONE TREE TO DENVER AT A VERY BUSY TIME IN THE EVENING WITHOUT WARNING (SCARY THOUGHT). UPON ARRIVING HOME WITH THE TOWED VEHICLE, I ATTEMPTED TO START THE ENGINE AGAIN, BUT IT WOULD NOT START. TURNED OFF THE IGNITION, REMOVED KEYS, BUT A LOW SOUND I'VE NEVER CONTINUED FOR SEVERAL MINUTES. AFTER THAT, THE CAR WAS COMPLETELY DEAD. DASHBOARD WON'T LIGHT UP, NO WORKING HORN, POWER LOCKS, WINDOWS, ALARM. I NOW HAVE NO FUNCTIONING VEHICLE AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT CAUSED MY CAR TO LOSE POWER WHILE DRIVING.

TRANSAXLE IS FAILING AFTER 100K MILES OF NORMAL DRIVING AND MAINTENANCE. SPOKE WITH BOTH A TOYOTA DEALER AND TRANSMISSION SHOP WHO SAID THE CVT FAILURE ON THIS MODEL YEAR AND THE FOLLOWING SEVERAL IS AN EXTREMELY COMMON OCCURRENCE. THIS IS A $5000+ REPAIR FAIRLY EARLY IN THE LIFE OF THE VEHICLE. THE TRANSMISSION SHOP SAID THIS WAS DUE TO POOR INITIAL DESIGN.

TAKATA RECALL FROM THE DATE OF PURCHASE, VEHICLE PERFORMED UNPREDICTABLY. I TOOK MY CAR TO THE TOYOTA DEALERSHIP AND THEY FOUND THAT THE HYBRID BATTERY NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. WHEN I DRIVE 45 MPH, THE VEHICLE WILL STALL AND ALL INDICATOR ILLUMINATE ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, THE CAR WILL STALL. TOYOTA DOES NOT STAND BY THEIR PRODUCT. MY CAR GOES COMPLETELY DEAD. EVERY WARNING LIGHT TURNS ON AND ITS BLINKING.