Good overall reliability but recurring issues
After 200+ k miles, this Prius had relatively decent service reliability. HOWEVER, this car suffers from severe design/engineering and electrical flaws. We have probably spent thousands of dollars on headlight bulbs over the life of this car. EXTREMELY frustrating to have to replace these lamps every 6-8 weeks. Of course, the Toyota dealer continued to deny there were any unusual headlight issues while still under warranty. Pay attention, and you will frequently see other similar vintage Prius driving with one light out. I always suspected some type of voltage spike during starting the car, likely related to the hybrid system... somehow.
Absolutely awful lighting reliability. Additionally, the engineering for the the reflector + headlight housing is terrible! I would even say DANGEROUSLY insufficient light throw! Better with LED conversion lamps. Other major flaw: Front hub/wheel bearings. The OEM parts had normal reliability. Since the original set, we have had to replace these EIGHT times. NAPA bearings were the worst. But even after using Toyota OEM parts, we have had to replace hubs + bearings nearly every 15,000 miles. Geez... TIRES last longer than these poorly engineered hub/bearing/axle systems and questionable OEM replacement parts have.
Verified Owner
