AtWhatMileage
Electrical · 15 owner reports

Other electrical problem on the 2016 Toyota Prius

Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 15
With an odometer reading 7
Reports per 1,000 built 0.2 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 71%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $250–$2,000
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 2nd

When other electrical problem gets reported

There are 15 reports of other electrical problem on the 2016 Toyota Prius, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 7 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 17,200 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–$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 2016 has 15. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota prius. While the vehicle was stationary, the battery became extremely hot. The vehicle was repaired by the contact. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000. Updated 01/26/2017*ct *cn

20,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1341405 filed 2016-12-15

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota prius. The contact stated that the speedometer gauge did not allow the ability to switch from miles per hour to kilometers. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but was unable to be diagnosed or repaired due to n manufacturer default. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,500. ....updated 02/06/17 *bf *cn

1,500 miles NHTSA complaint 1343133 filed 2016-12-22

I purchased a new 2016 prius four on february 16, 2016. The literature on the toyota factory website says my prius is equipped to switch from english to metric units. Unfortunately, toyota failed to disclose that any prius manufactured in january and february and delivered to the united states did not have this feature working correctly. Without the ability to switch to metric units, by government mandate, my prius does not meet canadian motor vehicle safety regulations. Apparently some 2016 prius vehicles sold in canada also cannot switch to english units when driving in the united states presenting a potential safety hazard. Toyota has apparently failed to reveal a material fact that the prius sold to me does not meet the canadian motor vehicle safety regulations. There was no disclosure on the vehicle monroney sticker that this prius has a disabled or deleted english to metric unit speedometer display. After 10 months from my date of purchase, the only remedy toyota offers is for me to purchase a new prius to replace my new prius at my expense. When I purchased my new 2016 toyota prius, I did not know I was purchasing a vehicle…

97 miles NHTSA complaint 1343456 filed 2016-12-25

Also reported on the 2016 Toyota Prius

Other visibility problem

35 reports median 18k

Other engine problem

12 reports median 40k

Other body or interior problem

12 reports median 16k

Parking brake failure

10 reports median 27k

Other brake problem

10 reports median 7k

Other speed control problem

10 reports median 10k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 15 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 15 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 2016 Toyota Prius?

Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other electrical problem on the 2016 Toyota Prius?

15 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