Problems · by component

2008 Toyota Prius vehicle speed control problems

156 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2008 Toyota Prius cite vehicle speed control, 10% of all 1,497 complaints for this model year. NHTSA also lists 1 recall on this component.

Complaints
156
10% of all complaints
Crashes
55
Reported by owners
Fires
2
Reported by owners
Injuries
25
Reported by owners
01 —Owner reports

What owners say about the vehicle speed control

Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“Randomly my instrument panel goes blank while in motion and can only be retrieved by hard turning the car off when stopped, you loose your speedometer, lights, and all until reset. Other issue with speedometer readings that are consistently off between 5-15mph with no fix, resolutions or repairs.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Aug 31, 2025Electrical system, Vehicle speed control, Unknown or otherCrash reportedODI 11684148
“My name is [XXX] ,i am filing this report on behalf of My daughter [XXX] the driver of the vehicle that involved with the unintended acceleration on the 2009 Toyota Prius .On a good clear morning on [XXX] . My daughter drove the 2009 Toyota Prius to work- when she enter to the parking lot at the speed round 5 mile/hour . Just when she was making a left turn on to the entrance gate with her left foot on the brake pedal . On a sudden the vehicle RPM unintended rev up too high and the vehicle had an unintended accelerating to move forward aggressively causing lose control of the steering . Also she could not brake even though her left foot was on the brake pedal and pressing hard to try to stop the vehicle . . This dangerous incident causing her Prius to bumped into the electrical gate panel control box . The accident caused some damages to her Prius and to the entrance gate control box though no body was hurt . But it got us through the terrible experience because it could kill some one for sure . My daughter been driving this commute car daily in the past 5 years and she has the skill of 20 year driving with good record . This Prius of her still have all OEM…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Jul 2, 2025Vehicle speed control, Service brakes, EngineCrash reportedODI 11670935
“I am currently having this issue with Combination Meter, which means the Prius dash board will not show any speed, fuel, P, R, D label and many more important information is not shown on display. I had complained to Toyota, CASE[XXX] on 19Dec2022, I have spoken to Danial N and manager Alex S from Toyota. They both have denied solving this issue from Toyota as the Warranty Extension ZTV has expired. Even I had provided them proof that Toyota knew about this problem, please see [XXX] from Toyota regarding this. My Prius has 258000 miles, and it is 2008, It is high mileage as per their documents this will accrue in high mileage Prius with cold weather. I live in NJ, and it is getting cold and my car as high miles. Toyota refuse to take care of the problem and I as a consumer will have to pay over $1200 to get it fix as this is only done at Toyota dealership. Currently I am thinking of getting it fix at Paul Miller Toyota of West Caldwell, 1155 Bloomfield Ave, West Caldwell, NJ 07006, 973-287-4050. What's sad is Toyota used to rank at the top of best customer service. I'm guessing most of the problems are just after the 9 years, calculated to guarantee fixing the…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Dec 20, 2022Electrical system, Exterior lighting, Vehicle speed controlODI 11498203
“The inverter water pump failed while I was driving 50mph, it caused the car to stop working and the brakes malfunctioned as well. When I tried to hit the brakes I had to hit them a lot harder and it still acted like it wasn’t going to stop. I was lucky enough that the light up ahead was still green and the cars in front of me started going forward.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Aug 20, 2022Vehicle speed control, Service brakesODI 11480313
“DASHBOARD SPEEDOMETER, FUEL GAUGE, HEADLIGHT INDICATORS, TRANSMISSION STATUS, CRUISE CONTROL DO NOT SHOW, ARE NOT LIT UP. BACKUP CAMERA DOES NOT WORK NOR DO THE BACK-UP LIGHTS. THIS OCCURED AFTER THE AUXILIARY BATTERY WAS REPLACED AND THE DASHBOARD LIGHTS AND BACKUP CAMERA WILL OCCASSIONALLY SPONTANEOUSLY RETURN WHEN THE CAR HAS NOT BEEN DRIVEN FOR A WEEK OR LONGER BUT THEN WILL GO OUT NEXT TIME THE CAR IS TURNED OFF. THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THE CAR TURNING OFF CONSISTENTLY AND AT TIMES THE START BUTTON NEEDS TO BE MANUALLY DEPRESSED FOR 5+ SECONDS TO SHUT DOWN.”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Mar 22, 2022Electrical system, Exterior lighting, Vehicle speed controlODI 11457816
“INSTRUMENT CLUSTER IN MY 2008 TOYOTA PRIUS COMPLETELY WENT DARK WHILE DRIVING FROM PHOENIX TO MY HOME IN TUCSON. I WAS TRAVELLING ON I-10 AT A SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 70MPH. TERRIBLY FRIGHTENING WHEN ALL GAUGES FAIL AT THE SAME INSTANT. THIS HAPPENED IN JAN 2021. SPEEDOMETER, FUEL GAUGE, HEADLIGHT INDICATORS, PRNDL, LCRUISE CONTROL, LIGHTS THAT INDICATE ENGINE EMERGENCIES DO NOT LIGHT. BACK-UP CAMERA DOES NOT WORK NOR DO THE BACK-UP LIGHTS. THESE ALL ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SAFETY ISSUES. HAVING RESEARCHED THIS PROBLEM IT IS EVIDENT THAT TOYOTA KNEW ABOUT THIS PROBLEM AS THEY HAVE RECALLED THOUSANDS OF PRIUS' FOR THIS ISSUE. THEY ISSUED AN EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR THIS ISSUE BUT MINE EXPIRED BEFORE I PURCHASED THIS VEHICLE IN FEBRUARY, 2020. I FIRMLY AM CONVINCED THAT TOYOTA SHOULD HONOR THE WARRANTY FOR THIS DANGEROUSLY COMMON FAILURE WHICH HAPPENS TO MANY DIFFERENT MODEL YEAR OF THE PRIUS. IT'S, IN FACT, IRRESPONSIBLE OF TOYOTA TO NOT REPAIR THESE VEHICLES AS THEY HAVE KNOWN HOW MASSIVELY PREVALENT THESE FAILURES ARE. THE LOCAL TOYOTA DEALERS IS CHARGING OVER $1000.00 TO FIX THE PROBLEM. I, FOR ONE, CANNOT AFFORD SUCH A COST FOR A MALFUNCTIONING, CRITICAL FOR…”
Owner complaint to NHTSAFiled Mar 18, 2021Electrical system, Vehicle speed controlODI 11403796

Showing 6 of 156 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.

Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 4, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
02 —Related recalls

1 recall on this component

Vehicle speed control: accelerator pedal

Free remedy

TOYOTA IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2004-2010 PASSENGER VEHICLES. THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL CAN GET STUCK IN THE WIDE OPEN POSITION DUE TO ITS BEING TRAPPED BY AN UNSECURED OR INCOMPATIBLE DRIVER'S FLOOR MAT.

Vehicle speed controlReported Oct 5, 2009NHTSA 09V388000
Data from NHTSA Recalls API · synced Nov 4, 2026

Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.