The 2012 Toyota Prius is one of the best used hybrid cars on the market today, with a bad ABS actuator being the only major issue to look out for. Unfortunately, a hybrid battery is only expected to last about a decade, and it’s been about a decade since the car was launched.
- The 2012 Toyota Prius earned a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and five stars overall in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s crash tests.
- ABS actuator failure has resulted in several reports of brake-lockup, but no recall or investigation so far.
- The car has been recalled three times for stalling as a result of power surge.
- Cracked airbag inflators led to a major recall in 2016.
- Despite low numbers of recalls and complaints, you might want to skip the 2012 Prius if you don’t want to pay for expensive replacement batteries.
Drivers are Reporting Brake-Lockup Resulting from ABS Actuator Failure
There are 495 complaints on file with the NHTSA for the 2012 Toyota Prius. Of these, 181 point to issues with the service brakes, making up nearly half of the total. There are a few different issues at play here, with ABS actuator failure being among the most common.
Your ABS actuator is the hydraulic device in the anti-lock brake system that actually applies the pressure you need to operate the brakes in an emergency situation without lockup. The actuator communicates with the ABS module and the electronic control unit to determine exactly how much pressure is needed.
So, if the actuator itself isn’t working, the whole system fails. Many of the reports on file with the NHTSA state that the driver’s brakes locked up resulting in spinouts and fishtailing. In some instances, this loss of control results in a minor accident like a fender-bender or slamming into a curb.
Most of these complaints report that drivers were going at lower speeds at the time of the incident, typically 35 mph and under. There have been no service brake recalls issued, and there have been no investigations into the matter. All you can do as a buyer, for now, is check the brakes on the test-drive.
Power Surges May Result in Engine Stall
There have been three recalls for for hybrid system shutdown and engine stall, totaling around one and a half million notifications between 2014 and 2018. The issue has to do with excessive voltage in the power inverter in the Intelligent Power Module, or the IPM.
The IPM is the part that directs and manages power use throughout the vehicle’s propulsion system. Essentially, what an engine control module does for a conventional gas-powered engine, the IPM does for a hybrid or full-electric system. If the module isn’t working correctly, you get loss of power and engine stall.
In all three recalls, the fix for this problem involves updating the software in the IPM, as well as the electronic control unit and the hybrid control ECU as necessary. The latest recall supersedes the first two, meaning that affected units will require the last update even if they’ve been updated twice already.
Fuel/propulsion complaints have been pretty scarce since these recalls went into effect, but they still pop up here and there. In the last year there have been four complaints of engine stall, with one driver stating their car lost power and started coasting while driving at 55 mph.
Cracked Airbag Inflators and Bad Calibration Result in Airbag Recalls
There are tow airbag recalls on file, one from 2013 for a miscalibrated occupant sensing system, and one from 2016 for cracked airbag inflators in the curtain shields. These two recalls covered just short of a half-million units in total, almost all of them being 2010-2012 Prius models.
Since these recalls went into effect there have been thirteen airbag complaints registered in total. The incidence rate appears to be going down. 2022’s sole report claims that the driver’s airbags failed to deploy after a driver-side t-boning, despite the passenger’s airbags deploying without issue.
Toyota sold around a quarter million Prius units in 2022, and if you divide that by thirteen you’ll find that the odds of being affected by airbag failure are pretty slim. But, the issue is worth mentioning because of the potential severity of the problem.
All you need to do as a potential buyer is run the VIN and make sure that, if the car was included in the airbag recalls, the previous driver got the necessary repairs handled. You could simply take it into the dealership yourself, too, but it’s nice knowing you won’t have to wait on parts to ship.
The 2012 Toyota Prius Would be an Excellent Used Car Choice, if Not for the Battery Replacement Costs
The 2012 Toyota Prius is dependable, its crash test ratings are near perfect, with a Top Safety Pick award from the IIHS and five stars from the NHTSA, and major issues are few and far between. But, it’s not a great investment if you’re looking for a reliable used car.
Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of combustion and battery power. That battery is only expected to last about eight to ten years, and replacing it can cost anywhere from $1,200 for a refurbished unit to $3,600 for a brand new battery.
If you’re going to buy a ten year old hybrid, the 2012 Toyota Prius is one of the best on the market. The question is whether you want to spend ten, eleven grand on a used car, and immediately spend another two or three thousand to keep it running.
