Other driver assistance problem on the 2005 Toyota Prius
When other driver assistance problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Toyota Prius report other driver assistance problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 45,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 134,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
27% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 miles | 26,200 miles | 67,000 miles | 87,600 miles | 135,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 95,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 38; the 2005 has 12. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Prius had extemely poor stability at highway speeds with 25 MPH gusty crosswind. Directional stability was *extremely* poor - wind gust would shift direction of the car 10-15 degrees. Little road feedback in steering wheel, required great attention from dirver to control car @ 60mph. Less capable driver (I.e. Older) probably would end up in a wreck.*ak
The traction control on my 2005 prius is dangerous. This is a well-documented problem (www.priuschat.com) . Toyota will not fix the problem. The problem is that when the car hits even a small patch of water and the tires slip, the engine shuts down for way too long. So, when accelerating rapidly from a stop, for example, if the tires happen to spin, the car just coasts for way too long. This is especially dangerous when accelerating rapidly onto a freeway from a stop, which I have to do frequently. My entrance onto the 101 in hollywood requires this type of acceleration, and I dread it every time I do it. I own a 2005 prius. Do a search on www.priuschat.com using the term "traction control" to see many other similar complaints. This is the first complaint I have ever filed, and I really hope something can be done about it. *jb
I bought a new toyota prius in 2005. When the vehicle rides over uneven pavement the stability control makes the car quickly lurch forward. This has happened dozens of times over the past five years. Recently, I have had a problem with my brakes in icy conditions. I was cruising at about 15 MPH to a stop sign, not on snow, it was just below freezing that day, when I applied the foot brake I felt no resistance in the pedal. I could feel the ABS system disengage for about 3 seconds. I could not stop the car using the brakes so I rolled to a stop. This happened again a few minutes later. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Toyota Prius
Headlight failure or clouding
Other brake problem
Other lighting problem
Other electrical problem
Other speed control problem
Loss of braking
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other driver assistance problem happen on the 2005 Toyota Prius?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other driver assistance problem on the 2005 Toyota Prius?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed