2006 Toyota PRIUS - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2006 Toyota Prius has a mixed safety rating, with 4 out of 5 stars for the driver and passenger side in front and side crash tests. However, the overall rating is not available. The car is equipped with optional electronic stability control, which can enhance safety by helping the driver maintain control during sudden maneuvers or slippery road conditions. It does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems.

In terms of complaints and recalls, the vehicle has had a significant number of complaints with 1430 reported. Additionally, there have been 6 recalls issued for this model. It is crucial for owners to stay informed about any recalls and address them promptly to ensure the vehicle's safety on the road.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

1,430

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

3

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2006 Toyota Prius 4-DR. Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2006 Toyota Prius 4-DR.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Optional
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2006 Toyota Prius 4-DR. Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2006 Toyota Prius 4-DR. Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 4 Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 4 Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2006 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated

Complaints for the 2006 Toyota PRIUS

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"while the vehicle was in motion on side street traffic at maximum 40 mph the right headlight turned off and i was pulled over for a traffic violation. the headlights were both working when i left my house 10 minutes earlier. they were both working when i left work later that day. the lights have had this problem before on and off frequently on the highway and side streets, but every time i check after pulling over and turning the car back on both lights are working."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2022-05-01
Complaint:
"the right side head light on my 2006 toyota prius will turn off on its own. it will work again if i shut all the lights off and turn it on again. it doesn't seem to happen while the car is stationary, but will turn off soon after the car starts moving. it doesn't matter if it is on a bumpy road, moving slowly, or on a highway. it will turn off within seconds to several minutes. i took it into the dealership around july 8th, 2019 when i first noticed the problem. they said there was no signs of any damage and said there wasn't anything that needed to be done. since then i have just been switching the lights off and back on when it happens. but then last night on november 7, 2019 both lights went out while i was driving on a public road. it happened as i accelerated after a full break.thankfully turning the lights off and on again worked. the right side turned back off again that night, but both did not shut off again after the incident."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2019-07-11
Complaint:
"the hid headlights are both out, after being on maybe 5 minutes. from everything i have read online and from my mechanic, this is a known issue with my model of car, that has been going on for years. the ballast is faulty, and would need to be tested prior to replacing a hid light. this has been happening for months, and i simply do not drive at night as a result. with the time change, this is to difficult."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2019-05-11
Complaint:
"head lights randomly go out without warning. turn switch of then on and they go back on for awhile. sometimes one headlight. sometimes other or both. not safe when driving in dark and lights disappear in mountains on vacation at night!!!"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2021-06-09
Complaint:
"right front headlight occasionally goes out. sometimes it works when i switch the lights on and off and on again but mostly it has me driving down the street at night with only the left headlight visible. i'm scared to drive at night, knowing that my right headlight will most likely act up again. i even took everything apart trying to get to this headlight to change the bulb but found that the current bulb was working fine. please do something!!! i cannot stress how important it is to have working headlights and i definitely don't want to get pulled over by a cop and issued a ticket!!"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2019-12-08
Complaint:
"driving at night all lights go out and the driver cannot see anything. very dangerious! this happened traveling 60 miles per hour at night."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2021-01-06
Complaint:
"the operation of my hid lights are malfunctioning and the current right head light will occasionally turn off on it's own. after turning them on and off a few times, they then work again. obviously dangerous for night time driving or resulting in potential tickets."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2019-01-12
Complaint:
"right front headlight randomly quits while driving, it has been doing this for the last 2 years"
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2019-08-11
Complaint:
"problem with intermittent hid headlight operation failure, drivers side failure even on high beam when driving, turning off/back on light comes back on but may fail again. passenger front headlight works fine."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2018-10-09
Complaint:
"have had an issue with headlights turning on and off for several years although we have replaced the very expensive headlights many times. it has left us in a bad situation many times (at night on a dark road with no lights)! we just try not to use it at nighttime. but now my son has night classes an hour away and we live sort of remote so i am scared."
Components Involved: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Date of incident: 2009-01-09

Recalls for the 2006 Toyota PRIUS

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"toyota is recalling certain model year 2004-2009 prius vehicles manufactured august 5, 2003, through march 30, 2009. the affected vehicles have a steering intermediate extension shaft assembly built with metal splines that complete the connection from the steering wheel to the steering gear. these splines may have been manufactured with an insufficient hardness."
Consequence:
Over time, the splines may wear and eventually fail resulting in a loss of steering ability, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.
Remedy:

Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the extension shaft and replace it if it is one with insufficient hardness, free of charge. The recall began during December 2012. Owners may contact their Toyota dealer or the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.

Component(s) Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2012-11-14

TOYOTA Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

TOYOTA ranks 3 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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