Windshield cracking on the 2017 Toyota Prius
Only 4 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.
When windshield cracking gets reported
There are 6 reports of windshield cracking on the 2017 Toyota Prius, 4 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 45,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 10,000 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 $300–$1,600 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, every year of the Toyota Prius
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.
Topic: 2017 prius windshield cracked. I have 2017 prius purchased new about a month ago with 1500 miles driven. 2 days ago, when I pumped gas, I noticed a small crack in upper right hand side along the edge. I don't remember getting hit by an object while driving. Yesterday the cracks gotten longer. Checked thickness between my finger, it looks the same as that of a drinking glass. A quick search on internet revealed that it is a very common issue with 2016 or newer model. Called toyota and was informed that it is a manufacture defect. I have owed other vehicles made by toyota and honda that were hit with flying object with no problem. Even with crack, it shouldn't have spiraled out that fast and large. Please investigate to see if it is design mistake in pursue of weight reduction. Thank you.
Friday january 12, 2018, drove vehicle 3.5 hours on highway during period of declining temperatures- 34 to 29 fahrenheit, with snow beginning hour 2.5. Operated front defrost continuously for entire 3.5 hour trip with cabin temp between 72 and 75f. Made 2 stops, 10 minutes each- one at 1.5 hours and one at 3 hours. Parked overnight in home garage at end of trip. Air temp declined to 19f overnight. Backed car out of garage in morning and windshield cracked at centerline of front defrost vent. Crack has continued to expand to points almost exactly 5 inches beyond each end of defrost vent, then stopped expanding. Passenger side (right side) crack is aligned exactly with centerline of defrost vent. At point 5" outboard of vent, passenger side crack turns down and extends to bottom edge of windshield. Driver (left side) crack is parallel to vent on line 3" below vent, then turns up, crosses vent, and parallels vent 3" above vent to termination of crack at 5" outboard of vent. Nothing impacted windshield during trip and windshield was not cracked at end of trip. Engineering defect- inadequate glass strength- unable to use defroster for…
In early or mid may 2018, when my new 2017 toyota prius prime had less than or approx. 10,000 miles on it and when I was getting into my car one sunny morning in my gated parking lot, I first noticed a very thin vertical crack (circa 2-3 inches) on my windshield - starting at the very bottom of the windshield below my wipers. The crack was located in the middle of the glass, I.e. Between driver & passenger. The car was stationary, and had sat in my parking spot for the last day or two, and then on this may morning, there was a crack. No chip mark had existed prior to this, and no rock had hit it when I drove it last. There was no large tree near my parking spot, plus nothing was on the windshield when I got to my car that morning, so nothing fell on it. In less than a week, the damage on the glass grew larger (6 inches) and was spreading. I took my car in for 10,000 mile service per toyotacare, but toyota denied warranty coverage for the repair or replacement of its fragile prius prime's windshield, despite it being within the warranty period and the defect manifesting itself when the car was stationary. Within the next few days…
Also reported on the 2017 Toyota Prius
Other brake problem
Other visibility problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Cruise control failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 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 6 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 windshield cracking happen on the 2017 Toyota Prius?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 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 windshield cracking on the 2017 Toyota Prius?
6 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