How Reliable Are Toyota PHEVs?

On paper, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) appear to offer the sweet spot between conventional gas-powered cars and electric vehicles (EVs). PHEVs can operate for short distances — typically 30 to 50 miles — on all-electric power and automatically switch to hybrid power when the battery runs out. Yet, the reality is that the complexity of this dual powertrain configuration leads to reliability issues, according to a survey by Consumer Reports (CR). The findings revealed an interesting twist: among PHEVs, Toyota offered the most dependable models.

Let's put this in perspective. As CR tells it, by the end of 2024, PHEVs had 70% more reliability issues than regular gas-powered and hybrid cars. That's an eye-opening number, but less dramatic than the 146% higher problem rate reported the previous year. That's a substantial improvement. While the organization's data shows good progress for PHEV reliability as a whole, it doesn't provide specific figures for Toyota PHEVs. Nonetheless, CR saw fit to include the RAV4 Prime PHEV on its list of the ten most reliable vehicles.

J.D. Power has limited reliability data on Toyota PHEVs, but gives the 2021 RAV4 Prime a "great" quality and reliability rating of 87 out of 100. That was the debut year for the PHEV variant of the automaker's best-selling RAV4, which also made our list of the most reliable SUV models made by Toyota.

While Toyota has a hybrid-heavy lineup, it's more selective with PHEV offerings. For 2025, PHEV buyers have a choice of two models, the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid and the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. This duopoly has existed since the 2021 model year, when the PHEV-ified RAV4 joined the Prius Prime, which debuted in 2017. It's worth noting that beginning with the 2025 model year, Toyota discontinued the "Prime" name for its PHEV lineup in favor of the straightforward "Plug-In Hybrid" label.

Information on reliability for the PHEV version of the Prius is harder to come by. It's not on CR's list of most reliable vehicles, although the regular Prius hybrid is. Furthermore, J.D. Power has yet to evaluate the dependability of any year of the Prius Prime/Prius Plug-In Hybrid. One possible clue to the reliability of the PHEV variants of the Prius comes from the CR Recommended badge. This is Consumer Reports' thumbs up, indicating that a product, in this case, a vehicle, has passed its evaluation standards with flying colors. The Prius Prime received this approval for the 2017, 2018, and 2020 through 2022 model years. The 2025 Prius Plug-In Hybrid also earned a nod from CR. Its RAV4 counterpart earned similar honors for 2022 through 2025.