There are 2 owner-reported speed control & cruise complaints for the 2017 Toyota Prius Primein NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
In the 2017 Prius Prime when the car switches from Electric power to gas the car frequently fails to allow you to accelerate. It is like you are stuck in neutral on the freeway, taking your foot off of the acceleration pedal and pushing it down doesn't always fix the issue. The accelerator foot pedal can be completely down to the floorboard as you are losing speed. The safety issue is that you are losing speed, and on the freeway and the car doesn't recover losing some control. I have taken the car to the Toyota delearship and when taken in that say it is a software update, but this continues to happen. There is no real notification when this will occur as the battery milage switchover is often misreported by the car.
I WAS SLOWLY ( < 5MPH) APPROACHING A STOPLIGHT AT A BUSY INTERSECTION IN A 25 MPH ZONE ON A 4 LANE STREET THERE WERE 2 VEHICLES AHEAD OF ME. EVERYTHING SEEMED FINE UNTIL MY VEHICLE SUDDENLY ACCELERATED RAPIDLY AND I WAS UNABLE TO STOP IT. THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE WAS TO DRIVE IT INTO THE CAR IN FRONT OF ME AND NOT TO SWERVE. ONCE I HAD STOPPED AND CAUGHT MY BREATH, I PUT THE CAR INTO REVERSE TO BACK AWAY FROM THE CAR I HAD HIT, AND ONCE AGAIN THE CAR RAPIDLY ACCELERATED BACKWARD INTO THE CAR BEHIND ME. UNTIL THIS TIME I HAVE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS WITH THE VEHICLE. IT ONLY HAS BEEN DRIVEN 14,500 MILES.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026