CSR

Toyota · NHTSA safety record

2015 Toyota Prius C

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

17

Complaints

2

Crashes

0

Fires

1

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2015 Toyota Prius C have filed 17 safety complaints with NHTSA between June 2016 and July 2026. The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 5 of them (29%). The typical failure was reported at 18,000 miles, the median across the 11 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 1 recall covering this vehicle.

Recalls (1)

TIRES:PRESSURE MONITORING AND REGULATING SYSTEMS

15V514000 · August 13, 2015

The defect
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain model year 2015 Toyota Prius C vehicles manufactured April 20, 2015, to June 30, 2015. In the affected vehicles, the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) may be improperly calibrated and, as a result, the TPMS may fail to warn the driver that the tire pressure is low. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems."
The risk
If the vehicle is driven on underinflated tires, the tires may fail. Sudden tire failure increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
SET will notify owners, and dealers will re-calibrate the TPMS, free of charge. The recall began on September 15, 2015. Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-866-405-4226. SET's number for this recall is SET15E.

Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC · up to 949 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Pedestrian alert sounds

DP22005

Closed defect petition · opened January 27, 2023 · closed August 7, 2023 · led to recall 22V063000

the electrical system

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 17.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER 7 41%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 29%
ENGINE 3 18%
SERVICE BRAKES 3 18%
AIR BAGS 2 12%
STRUCTURE 2 12%
WHEELS 2 12%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 6%
SEATS 1 6%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2018 at 5.

2016 2018 2026
2016 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

Prius was rear-ended at highway speeds, forcing it into the vehicle ahead of it. Airbags did not deploy, & driver's seat failed to stay locked, moving forward then rearward during crash.

NHTSA complaint 11490410. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

crash · towed · 84,000 miles

OUR VEHICLE WAS STRUCK IN THE SIDE THIS WEEK, AND THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. WE WERE ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET TRAVELING AROUND 30MPH.

NHTSA complaint 11390763. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
While driving the hybrid battery light turned on. The car then began to reduce its speed and I had to pull over. I restarted the car and on one of the fuses to the computer to restart it. I began to drive the car back home and it did it again. I recently had a hybrid battery replaced in the vehicle. I was on the freeway both times and this caused me a lot of anxiety. There were two individuals in the vehicle, which both were at risk of being injured if there was a collision. We need it to pull over within less than 30 seconds. They appeared in the morning and a year prior. A year previously I replaced the battery. There was an odd buzzing sound in the back of the driver seat were the vent

NHTSA complaint 11748313, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I purchased my 2015 Prius C in July of 2016. Since then I have consistently had issues with the lock actuator going out on various doors. As follows: 3/12/18 - Driverside 6/13/18 - Passenger Front 8/3/20 - Driverside 8/5/22 - Rear Driverside 12/16/22 - Passenger Front 3/14/23 - Driverside and now in July of 2025 the Driverside actuator is failing, AGAIN. The previous times were covered by my warranty, but that ended in 2023. My car is also kept in a garage. The dealership attempted to blame this issue on the elements, but come on...if that was the case, this would be happening to all sorts of various cars, and it's not. This is an issue for a variety of reasons, one being I am unable to

NHTSA complaint 11672857, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
Unknown brake issues

NHTSA complaint 11582026. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

WHEELS
MY VEHICLES DID NOT INDICATE THAT THE TIRE PRESSURE WAS LOW AND IT SHOULD TELL ME SINCE IT IS CERTIFIED USED. THERE WAS NO LIGHT INDICATOR OR ANYTHING AND 2 OF MY TIRES WERE LOW. AS A NEW CAR OWNER I HAD NO IDEA AND IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR MY PARTNER I WOULD HAVE NOT KNOWN. THIS POSES AS A SAFETY HAZARD AND IF THE DEALERSHIP KNOWINGLY DID NOT CHECK FOR THIS PROBLEM THEN THAT IS NEGLIGENT KNOWING THIS WAS A PROBLEM FOR THIS YEAR MAKE AND MODEL. IT WAS STATIONARY HOWEVER I COMMUTE EVEY DAY.

NHTSA complaint 11256261. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Toyota Prius C

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2016 12 0
2014 32 0
2013 56 0
2012 63 0

Other 2015 Toyota models

Every Toyota on this site — 272 vehicles, 370 recall campaigns and 3 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst