2016 Toyota Prius: jerking or lurching

Filed Oct 6, 2026 · Acceleration, Fuel system · CA

I turned on my car in a flat parking lot, reversed out of my spot, and drove up to a traffic light to exit the parking lot. When the light turned green, I took my foot off the brake and tried to accelerate, but nothing happened. After a few seconds, my car lurched forward with a sudden jerk, and I was able to exit, but this behavior (no movement, then sudden jerk) continued to happen. I was scared that I would get into an accident, so I pulled over and turned the car off and on. The behavior continued. I drove to a safe location, and parked the car. I noticed the engine kept revving up and down, even though I was parked, and the hybrid battery indicator showed no charge. I turned off the car, and had dinner for about an hour. After I finished dinner, I started the car, and it was driving normally again (creeping forward as soon as I took my foot off the brake), but I was afraid the problem would happen again, at a dangerous moment. There were no warning lights or messages while this problem was happening. I explicitly checked that the parking brake was not set.

Filed Jun 13, 2022 · Acceleration, Electrical · AL

When the battery cooling fan is running, the car is slow to accelerate or will not accelerate at all. The incident has happened multiple times over the past year when the temperatures are above 90. If at a complete stop, the car will not accelerate, it will only jerk forward. The car has to be turned off and restarted to be able to accelerate. If braking or reducing speed, the car will be sluggish, and I have not been able to get the speed over 40 mph. I have taken it to the dealership, but they said they could not recreate the issue, though I do not believe that they followed the directions I gave them to recreate the problem. No warning lights appear when the issue occurs, so they did not have an answer. The first time the incident occurred, I had just had the scheduled maintenance completed two days earlier and they did not find anything in the inspection that needed to be repaired. The first time the incident occurred, I was at a stop light trying to make a right turn. The incident has occurred twice when trying to pull on to the highway and accelerate up to speed.

Filed Apr 21, 2021 · Brakes · 31,000 miles · HI

When putting the car in park and then engaging the foot parking brake on a slope, such as my driveway, and then turning off the car, the car rolls back significantly. Then, while exiting the car, the rear brakes make loud grinding and creaky noises as the car settles downwards slightly. Then, when entering the car, the brakes make the same creaky and grinding sounds. When holding the brake pedal to power on the car, then disengaging the foot parking brake, then shifting the car from park to reverse or drive, the car jerks abruptly and at the same time makes a loud and stuck disengagement sound, as if the car was being held on the hill/driveway solely by the parking pawl. It seems like the parking brake is not holding the car, and instead, the parking pawl is.

Filed Sep 5, 2018 · 10,000 miles · CA

On many occasions when I would step on my brake, my car would jerk and thrust forward aggressively. I'd have to step hard on my brake so the car would not catapult past a stop sign or light. It feels like the car is stronger than the brake and out of control. Which is alarming because I pick up my 2 year old granddaughter from daycare and bring her home. It's happened when I turn corners or come to a stop sign or light and I never know when it will happen.

Filed Aug 1, 2018 · Brakes · 17,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota prius. While the vehicle was reversing and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle jerked while coming to a stop. There were no warning indicators illuminated. As a result, the contact had to release the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to city toyota (255 san pedro rd, daly city, ca 94014, (650) 204-8135) where it was diagnosed that the brake actuator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The dealer advised the contact to schedule a diagnostic appointment. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

Filed May 11, 2018 · Engine, Transmission · 22,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 toyota prius. While accelerating from a stop, the vehicle jerked and would not move. The vehicle was able to be driven to hamer toyota (11041 sepulveda blvd, mission hills, ca 91345), but they could not detect any failures. Three months later, the same failure occurred and the vehicle had to be towed from the location. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 22,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Feb 15, 2018 · Brakes · 19,700 miles · CA · 2 injuries

February 7, 2018 !01 frwy north approaching santa rosa/ pleasant valley off ramp on the downgrade out of newbury park at 25 MPH in the right lane. A.brake lights are seen in car ahead. B.the dash board lights up red with the word brake in red c.a loud pulsating audio noise can be heard coming from the speakers. D.the driver touches the brakes and the car goes into full ABS emergency braking reducing speed from 25 MPH to 12 MPH in less than 1/2 second e.the driver and the passengers experience a violent lurch which produces whip lash. F.the seat belts engage causing pain to the shoulders. G.the incident occurred at 25 MPH. This has occurred over 6 times in the past year. A pdf is attached of the history of problem as presented to thousand oaks toyota and toyota national in november 2017. Video cameras were installed in the car in december 2017 to capture this as thousand oaks toyota and toyota national said this never happened. Here are the links to the video of the above incident: accident starts at 30 seconds https://vimeo.com/254847752 https://youtu.be/62ao8z0igdy [xxx] - driver [xxx] - passenger front seat [xxx] - passenger rear left seat camera 1 mounted in back ceiling camera 2 mounted on console information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Nov 15, 2016 · Brakes · 1,500 miles · HI

On friday, october 21, 2016 while driving over a pothole I pressed on the brake. The car slowed but all of a sudden the brake suddenly depressed even further down and the car jerked and seemed to stall before pushing forward. I had been pressing the brake as far down as it would go and it seemed as if there would be some kind of brake failure. On october 31, 2016 while driving over another pothole, I again stepped on the brake and suddenly the pedal again depressed further down and there was a creaking and squealing sound. Then on november 4, 2016 while going over a pothole, there was a squealing and creaking sound but not a sudden additional depression of the brake pedal. All these incidents happened on salt lake blvd. Or kamehameha highway and passes under the fixed guideway for hawaii's rail system. The road is extremely bumpy and full of potholes.