Toyota Prius by Model Year: Problems, Recalls and MPG

Every Toyota Prius model year since 2016: EPA fuel economy, NHTSA recalls, owner complaints and crash tests.

Data: US EPA and NHTSAUpdated Sep 27, 2026

Every model year since 2016 in one place: EPA fuel economy, NHTSA recalls, owner complaints and crash test ratings. The best fuel economy rating, 57 mpg combined, arrived in 2023 and has held since. Includes the plug-in hybrid, sold as the Prius Prime until 2024. Excludes the smaller Prius c and the Prius v wagon.

Complaints in each year's first three years

Model years ranked by owner complaints filed with NHTSA in their first three years (model year Y: filed by the end of Y+2), so every year is measured over the same time on the road. Years without three full years of data, and launch or final years with very few sold, are left out. Counts are not adjusted for how many were sold.

Model year	First 3 years	All complaints	Recalls
2016 Prius Most reported: visibility/wiper	93	154	5
2017 Prius Most reported: visibility/wiper	82	133	3
2018 Prius Most reported: exterior lighting	24	52	1
2022 Prius Most reported: electrical system	22	32	1
2020 Prius Most reported: brakes	20	30	1
2019 Prius Most reported: brakes	16	38	3
2023 Prius Most reported: electrical system	15	25	4
2021 Prius Most reported: electrical system	8	16	0

Year by year

Model year	Best rating	Recalls	Complaints
2026 MPG · Recalls and problems	57 mpg Hybrid	1	10
2025 MPG · Recalls and problems	57 mpg Hybrid	2	18
2024 MPG · Recalls and problems	57 mpg Hybrid	4	38
2023 MPG · Recalls and problems	57 mpg Hybrid	4	25
2022 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	1	32
2021 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	0	16
2020 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	1	30
2019 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	3	38
2018 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	1	52
2017 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	3	133
2016 MPG · Recalls and problems	56 mpg Hybrid	5	154

Owner complaints by model year

All complaints filed so far. Counts rise with sales volume and with time on the road, so recent years look better than they may turn out. The highlighted bar is the model year with the most complaints in its first three years.

2016: 154 complaints

Show as a table

Owner complaints by model year, Toyota Prius
Model year	Complaints
2016	154
2017	133
2018	52
2019	38
2020	30
2021	16
2022	32
2023	25
2024	38
2025	18
2026	10

Best combined rating by model year

The best-rated version in each model year. Hybrid: 56 to 57 mpg (every year from 2016 to 2026); 57 since 2023.

2026: hybrid 57 mpg

Show as a table

Toyota Prius best combined mpg by model year
Model year	Best hybrid version
2016	56
2017	56
2018	56
2019	56
2020	56
2021	56
2022	56
2023	57
2024	57
2025	57
2026	57

Questions

Which Toyota Prius years have the most problems?

A typical Toyota Prius year drew only 21 owner complaints in its first three years (the range is 8 to 93), too few to rank the years fairly. The 2024, 2025, and 2026 are not ranked yet: they have had fewer than three full years on the road.

Which Toyota Prius years have the most recalls?

The 2016 has the most safety recalls in NHTSA's file (5), then the 2024 (4). A recall can cover a problem that affects only a few cars, so open a year's page to see what each one covers. No recall for 2016 to 2026 models tells owners not to drive the car or to park it outside.

What are the most common Toyota Prius problems?

Of the 546 owner complaints NHTSA lists for 2016 to 2026 models, the areas named most are electrical system (17%), visibility/wiper (16%), and brakes (14%). One complaint can name more than one area. The recalls and problems page for each year breaks this down further.

Which Toyota Prius year has the best MPG?

The best EPA fuel economy is 57 mpg combined, first reached by the 2023 hybrid version and matched by every year since.

Sources and method

US EPA fuel economy data (fueleconomy.gov), file dated Sep 18, 2026.
NHTSA recall file dated Sep 27, 2026 and owner complaint file dated Sep 26, 2026; NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings.

Complaint counts are unverified owner reports and are not adjusted for sales volume. How we build these pages. Spotted an error? Tell us.