Other electrical problem on the 2012 Toyota Prius
2 fires 1 injury 3 of the 31 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Toyota Prius report other electrical problem at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 500 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 135,355 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
63% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 481 miles | 2,933 miles | 12,000 miles | 72,000 miles | 135,836 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
Of these reports, 2 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 125; the 2012 has 31. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 toyota prius. The contact stated that the vehicle was equipped with a hands-free phone system. The contact expressed concerns that he had to activate too many buttons in order to operate the phone system. As a result, the contact felt that the system could create a safety hazard while driving. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and no assistance was provided. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the vehicle was operating as intended. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 5.
Car becomes immobile - will not shift into reverse or drive. Computer keeps sending the message to put it in park and depress brake, but once that is done, any attempt to shift into reverse or drive triggers the message, endlessly. The problem is apparently intermittent. Occurred for two hours yesterday, after occurring to a lesser extent in preceding days (in the days preceding the total breakdown, I was able to shift after a slight delay and a few attempts). The dealership to which I had it towed said it was fine today. Everything checks out. This is a safety hazard because the car can be in an unsafe position when it becomes immobile. I was partly out of a parking space, somewhat blocking traffic. The problem involves the computer and the transmission - at least
Driving 70 MPH car began to go into high RPM, then accelerated to 74 from 70 MPH. I tried to decrease speed then vehicle shut off got a long beep and message on display "check hybrid system, pull over immediately" all lights on dash were indicating failures. Coasted to safety with 5 passengers in vehicle across traffic at 9:30 pm to shoulder. Tried to restart several times then vehicle went into high RPM then engine knocked loudly and was completely disabled. Lost brakes, pedal was hard, lost power steering, difficult to maneuver. I still had 2 bars indicating plenty of fuel in car. Prior fillup was 7.6 gallons at pump, usually get over 500 miles per tank, trip meter only showed under 400 miles since fill up so had plenty of fuel and there was no low fuel indicator. Reported all problems to dealer. They only noted the car shut down but told me they confirmed everything I said and that toyota engineers are trying to resolve this since they are aware of this type of problem. So far dealer and toyota have not addressed the high RPM, the acceleration, loss of electronics and hybrid system failure and told me they havenever heard of…
Also reported on the 2012 Toyota Prius
Other brake problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
ABS module or sensor failure
Other visibility problem
Loss of braking
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 31 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 electrical problem happen on the 2012 Toyota Prius?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2012 Toyota Prius?
31 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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