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Dive Brief:
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing has recalled more than 141,000 Prius hybrids over a rear door switch defect that can cause rear doors to open unexpectedly, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall, which was published by the NHTSA on Jan. 28, covers 2023-2026 Prius models, 2023-2024 Prius Prime and 2025-2026 Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicles produced at various times between Oct. 11, 2022, and Nov. 3, 2025.
Dealers will modify the rear door switch circuits to prevent unexpected door opening, free of charge. Owner notification letters are set to be mailed beginning March 15.
Dive Insight:
If an unlocked door unexpectedly opens, drivers will see a warning in the instrument panel, and a buzzer will sound if the vehicle is in motion. Toyota said it cannot estimate how many vehicles may experience the defect since several environmental factors must be present for the condition to occur.
According to the recall report, water may enter the rear door opener switch if repeated thermal cycling reduces the effectiveness of the switch’s seal. In addition, the report specifies that if a “large amount of water” has splashed onto the switch, water intrusion can occur if a person closes the door “with a high force.”
However, the report also specifies that if the water contains a surfactant — such as detergent from a car wash — it can create a short circuit capable of activating the switch. Finally, the door must be unlocked for the fault to happen. The presence of these conditions together may lead to the rear door to open unexpectedly.
In April 2024, Toyota initiated a recall of roughly 56,000 2023-2024 model year Prius and Prius Prime vehicles for a similar issue. Dealers replaced both the left and right rear door opener switches to address the concern.
However, in February 2025, Toyota received a field report of a rear door opening unexpectedly in a vehicle in the Japan market that had been repaired as part of a local recall for the same issue.
Through June 2025, Toyota and its supplier, Japan-based Tokai Rika Co., investigated the issue. Tokai Rika recovered the rear outside door handle of the vehicle and found evidence of water and surfactants on the door opener switch’s circuit board.
The automaker then conducted splash tests on current door opener parts and confirmed that water could reach the sealed portion of the switch, but the company did not find signs of water intrusion in its internal testing.
Tokai Rika compared the sealing performance between the recovered part and a new part, finding that although the recovered part’s seal contact area was reduced, it still maintained sealing performance.
In July 2025, Toyota collected additional rear outside door handles for further testing and found that the parts’ seal contact areas were indeed reduced over time. Acting on a hypothesis that the seal contact area could be reduced by thermal cycling, Toyota conducted temperature tests and confirmed that it reduced the seal contact area. However, additional tests confirmed that parts with the smallest seal contact area were still protected from water intrusion.
Based on this information, Toyota hypothesized that another factor must be present to allow water intrusion.
In October 2025, Toyota began additional testing to determine whether closing the door had an effect on water intrusion. This test confirmed that the seal contact area could be reduced if the door is closed with “significant force.”
The company also ran tests to determine how water could cause the switch to activate in the event of a short circuit, experimenting with different mixtures of water and other substances, and found that water that contained a surfactant — such as car wash detergents — could cause a short circuit strong enough to activate the door opener switch.
Based on the results of the investigation, Toyota approved a recall on Jan. 22.
To address the concern, dealers will modify the circuits of the left and right rear doors to prevent activation even in the event of a short circuit.
As of Jan. 21, the company has received three U.S. warranty claims potentially related to the issue, but is not aware of any related field reports in the U.S. market.
Toyota Prius models were most recently recalled in October 2025 as part of a larger recall affecting more than 1 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles for backup camera issues.
