Buying Report · £14.99
Tools

Vehicle recall R/2012/146

Toyota Prius recall: Short circuit may occur

DVSA recall R/2012/146 names the Toyota Prius. It was launched 3 December 2012. It covers vehicles built 23 July 2003 to 27 March 2009.

Recall data updated

Recall
R/2012/146
Launched
3 December 2012
Issued by
TOYOTA (GB) PLC
Vehicles
17,501 across the whole recall

What can go wrong

In the Hybrid system of the subject vehicles there is an electrically driven water pump assembly that circulates coolant through the hybrid components. It is possible the coil wire of the electric motor installed in the water pump may have been scratched during the coiling manufacturing process at the supplier. In this condition the coil wire may corrode at the scratched portion and in some cases break. If this occurs the water pump could stop working leading to illumination of various warning lights in the instrument panel. In some cases a short circuit occurs between adjacent coil wires resulting in a blown fuse for the electric power supply circuit. This will cause the hybrid system to stop while the vehicle is being driven which increases the risk of an accident.

The fix

Replace the HV Electric Water Pump

Models and build dates

As listed in the DVSA recall file. DVSA gives one vehicle number for the whole recall: 17,501.
ModelBuilt
Toyota Prius23 July 2003 to 27 March 2009
Toyota Prius4 September 2003
Toyota Prius18 October 2004 to 23 March 2009
Is a specific car affected? A recall lists models and build dates, not individual vehicles, so these pages cannot tell you whether one car is included. Enter the registration on the DVSA vehicle recall checker on GOV.UK, or give the vehicle identification number (VIN) to the manufacturer or one of its dealers. Buying used? Ask the seller for proof that any recall work was done.

Other recalls for these models

  • R/2012/145 Loss of steering 3 December 2012, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Avensis, Toyota Prius
  • R/2013/070 Braking efficiency may be affected 2 July 2013, Toyota Prius
  • R/2014/024 Loss of power may occur 10 March 2014, Toyota Prius
  • R/2011/065 Steering control could be affected 27 June 2011, Toyota Prius
  • R/2015/152 Loss of power 10 August 2015, Toyota Prius, Toyota Auris
  • R/2016/153 Curtain shield airbag may deploy unintentionally 12 September 2016, Toyota Prius

More on these models

Found one you might buy?

A recall is one part of the picture. See how often it fails its MOT at each age, or what the VetTheCar Buying Report tells you about a specific car.

See an example Buying Report Free car tools

Source

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: DVSA vehicle recall records (RecallsFile.csv), recalls launched 1992 to 2026. Recall data updated 22 September 2026.

Recall wording is DVSA's, with capitals and punctuation tidied and American spellings such as tire, center and windshield given in British English. We list a recall when its make and model match a car or van family with at least 1,000 DVSA MOT tests from 2022 to 2025, and when the maker of the vehicle issued it.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by DVSA. Methodology · Data sources