Other speed control problem on the 2012 Toyota Prius
7 crashes 3 injuries 10 of the 11 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 speed control problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Toyota Prius report other speed control problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 30,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,400 miles at the tenth percentile to 35,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 31,309 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
90% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,397 miles | 3,111 miles | 21,000 miles | 30,375 miles | 33,706 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, 7 a crash and 3 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 60,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 221; the 2012 has 11. 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 as she was entering a parking space at 3 MPH, the vehicle did not stop when the brakes were applied. The contact crashed into a tree. The contact was not injured. The police were notified and a police report was filed. The contact's insurance company was contacted who advised that they would inspect the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure who sent a representative to further asses the failure. After inspection, the representative noticed that the brake and accelerator pedals were depressed simultaneously and advised that there were no failures within the vehicle. The failure mileage was 2,400.... Updated 08/15/12 *bf
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…
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 toyota prius. The contact stated that while driving at low speeds, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle veered into oncoming traffic, ran onto the sidewalk, then crashed into a tree. Upon impact, the air bags failed to deploy. The driver received injuries to the nose, back, and knees and also sustained two black eyes. The passenger did not sustain any injuries. The police were contacted and a report was available. The vehicle was later towed to an independent mechanic and the vehicle was deemed destroyed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure and current mileages were approximately 2,500. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Toyota Prius
Other brake problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
Other electrical problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Other visibility problem
Loss of braking
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 speed control problem happen on the 2012 Toyota Prius?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 30,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other speed control problem on the 2012 Toyota Prius?
11 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