Used Hybrids With the Most Brake Complaints (NHTSA ODI Analysis)

Key facts

• Dataset: NHTSA ODI vehicle-complaints API, retrieved 2026-09-01; N = 26,895 complaints across 311 hybrid/EV model-year cohorts for 8 makes; 2,222 flagged SERVICE BRAKES.
• Metric: brake share = SERVICE BRAKES complaints / all complaints for a nameplate. Share, not raw count, is the ranking metric because it normalizes for fleet age (newer cars have fewer complaints of every kind).
• Top by share (nameplates with 150+ complaints): Toyota Sienna Hybrid 29.0%, Ford Maverick Hybrid 18.3%, Honda Accord Hybrid 18.1%, Toyota Prius 15.6%, Toyota Highlander Hybrid 15.2%.
• A trap we caught and corrected: NHTSA renamed the Mach-E's ODI string mid-range (MUSTANG MACH-E for MY2021-2022, MUSTANG MACH-E BEV for MY2023-2024). Reading only the newer string put the Mach-E 2nd at 18.8%; merging both halves of the same nameplate gives 12.1% (77/636) and 11th place. We merged them.
• Reversal check: ranking by raw brake count instead crowns the Ford Fusion Hybrid (240) and Fusion Energi (219) — but their brake share is only ~8%, an age-and-volume artifact. No single "worst hybrid for brakes" claim holds without naming the metric.
• News peg: NHTSA received a defect petition (mid-July 2026, ~82,040 units cited) on 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrid braking loss. This is a pre-investigation stage, not an open investigation and not a recall.
• Mechanism split: Sienna and Maverick brake complaints describe true brake-by-wire/regen behavior; the Accord Hybrid's high share is largely automatic-emergency-braking (phantom braking), a different failure NHTSA files under the same bucket.

Which used hybrids get the most brake complaints?

By share of all NHTSA complaints for model years 2016-2024, the Toyota Sienna Hybrid ranks first, with 29.0% of its complaints (53 of 183) naming SERVICE BRAKES. The Ford Maverick Hybrid (18.3%), Honda Accord Hybrid (18.1%), and Toyota Prius (15.6%) follow. We use share rather than raw count because a raw tally simply rewards the oldest, highest-volume cars, which have had more years to accumulate complaints of every kind. This hybrid-only cut sits alongside our broader ranking of which used cars have the most brake failure complaints across every powertrain.

*Accord Hybrid share is substantially automatic-emergency-braking (phantom braking), not pedal loss — see below. Lower-share nameplates (mostly EVs and high-volume older sedans): Honda CR-V Hybrid 8.7%, Nissan Leaf 8.6%, Ford Fusion Energi 8.4%, Ford Fusion Hybrid 8.1%, Hyundai Ioniq 5 5.3%, Chevrolet Volt 3.8%, Kia Soul EV 3.3%, Ford Focus BEV 1.5%.

If you are shopping a Toyota or Lexus hybrid specifically, also see our note on the used Toyota hybrid recall problems to check before buying, which covers a separate do-not-drive campaign and what a VIN check shows.

Why rank by share instead of raw complaint count?

Ranking by share defeats the fleet-age confound: hybrids skew newer, and newer cars simply have fewer complaints on file, so raw totals understate them and flatter the oldest models. The effect is visible inside single nameplates. Toyota Prius SERVICE BRAKES complaints fall from 23 in MY2016 to 2 in MY2024; the Ford Fusion Hybrid drops from 122 in MY2016 to 0 in MY2020; the Maverick Hybrid runs 97 (2022), 7 (2023), 12 (2024).

That is why the ranking flips depending on the metric. By raw brake count, the Ford Fusion Hybrid (240) and Fusion Energi (219) lead the entire dataset — yet their brake share is only ~8%, a byproduct of being old and sold in huge numbers. By share, the Sienna Hybrid leads. Because the two metrics disagree, we do not claim any single "worst hybrid for brakes" superlative. Two honest limits sit under these numbers: share corrects for fleet age but not fleet size, so low-volume nameplates like the Sienna Hybrid (183 complaints) and Insight (183) rest on smaller, noisier bases than the Fusion's thousands; and because no free registration denominator exists, these are complaint shares and raw counts, not true per-vehicle failure rates. The same age effect drives which used cars with the most dashboard display problems top a raw tally, and it is the reason our broader look at what mileage cars start having problems normalizes before ranking.

Are these real brake failures or phantom braking?

The complaints describe two different problems, and they should not be lumped together. Reading the actual summaries, the Toyota Sienna Hybrid and Ford Maverick Hybrid brake complaints describe genuine brake-by-wire and regenerative behavior — "brakes momentarily release," "surges forward while braking," "the brakes go free for a rotation," "jerks when the regenerative system disengages." That is the electronic blending of regen and friction braking misbehaving.

The Honda Accord Hybrid's high share is a different mechanism. Its complaints skew toward automatic emergency braking — "automatic brakes apply at highway speeds," "suddenly braked hard for no reason" — an ADAS behavior NHTSA also files under SERVICE BRAKES. That is phantom braking, not classic pedal loss. The same AEB pattern drives the complaints behind the used Hyundai Santa Cruz problems to check before buying after that model's 26V316 phantom-braking recall. When you read a model's complaint history, check which failure it actually describes.

What's happening with the Ford Maverick Hybrid braking petition?

In mid-July 2026 (most sources cite July 20), NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation received a defect petition asking it to investigate 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrids for intermittent loss of anti-lock and regenerative braking; roughly 82,040 trucks are the cited population. The petitioner, a 2024 Maverick XLT Hybrid owner, alleges braking loss that persisted through four repair attempts and 50-plus days out of service, plus a 2025 crash (no injuries reported). NHTSA is deciding whether to grant or deny the petition. As of 2026-09-01 this is a pre-investigation stage — not an open PE/EA and not a recall — and no petition docket number has been published (the DP26 numbers in the Federal Register are unrelated petitions).

Our cohort data adds a nuance the headlines miss: the petition names the 2024 model year, but the 2022 Maverick Hybrid carries far more brake complaints (97) than the 2024 (12). The petition is model-year-specific; the model-line pattern is broader and older. Regardless of how NHTSA rules, brake-by-wire behavior is the transferable lesson for any used hybrid — test it directly on your drive.

What a VIN check can and can't tell you here

A VIN history report screens a specific vehicle's past; it does not resolve an open regulatory question. Here is the honest split for this story:

The complaint shares in this article are population-level signals about a model, not a per-VIN condition. To check a specific truck: start with NHTSA's free VIN recall lookup for open recalls, ask the selling dealer to confirm any remedy or investigation status, and run the VIN through a history report to see recall presence plus accident, salvage, odometer, and ownership history.

By the numbers

• 26,895 total complaints processed across 311 hybrid/EV model-year cohorts (8 makes, MY2016-2024).
• 2,222 flagged SERVICE BRAKES.
• 29.0% — Toyota Sienna Hybrid brake share, the highest among nameplates with 150+ complaints.
• 1.5% — Ford Focus BEV brake share, the lowest in the set.
• 97 vs 12 — SERVICE BRAKES complaints on the 2022 vs 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrid.

Based on 26,895 NHTSA ODI complaint records for dedicated hybrid/EV nameplates (MY2016-2024), retrieved 2026-09-01. Frozen data: used-hybrids-most-brake-complaints-nhtsa-data-vin-check-2026-09-01.csv.

How to check a used hybrid's brakes before buying

1. Test the brake-by-wire handoff on the drive. Brake gently from highway speed, then firmly at low speed; feel for a momentary release, surge, or jerk as regen hands off to friction brakes. Test AEB response too, without provoking traffic.
2. Pull open recalls by VIN. Use NHTSA's free VIN recall lookup for that exact year/model, and ask the dealer, in writing, whether any brake recall has been remedied.
3. Screen the vehicle's history. Run the VIN — NHTSA is free for recalls; a report like Zilocar adds recall presence plus accident/airbag-deployment, salvage-auction, odometer, theft, ownership, and sales-listing history in one place.
4. Read the model's complaint pattern, and note whether it describes pedal-loss/regen behavior or phantom AEB braking — they are different problems with different fixes.

Zilocar's VIN check screens for recall presence and surfaces accident, airbag-deployment, salvage-auction, odometer, theft, ownership, and sales-listing history. It does not confirm a recall was remedied, track NHTSA investigations, show firmware status, or classify the title brand — for those, use NHTSA's tools and the selling dealer.

Related checks

• Used Toyota hybrid recall problems to check before buying
• Used Honda CR-V Hybrid problems to check before buying
• Used Hyundai Santa Cruz problems to check before buying (phantom braking)

Method

Source file. NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation vehicle-complaints API (api.nhtsa.gov/complaints/complaintsByVehicle), retrieved 2026-09-01. Model strings were not guessed: we enumerated them from NHTSA's own products/vehicle/models endpoint for each make and model year, because a wrong model string returns an empty result that is indistinguishable from a genuine zero.

Universe. Eight makes (Toyota, Honda, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Chevrolet, Nissan, Lexus), model years 2016-2024. From every ODI model string those makes carry, we kept the dedicated hybrid/EV nameplates and hybrid-specific strings (CAMRY HYBRID, FUSION HEV, MAVERICK HEV, IONIQ 5, FOCUS BEV and so on). That leaves 311 make/model/model-year cohorts holding N = 26,895 complaints, of which 2,222 name SERVICE BRAKES.

Filter. A complaint counts as a brake complaint if its comma-joined components field contains the exact string SERVICE BRAKES. This is NHTSA's own component coding, not our judgement.

Cleanup and dedup. Each cohort is fetched once and keyed by make/model/model-year, so no complaint is counted twice. Cohorts returning zero complaints are dropped from the file. Because NHTSA rate-limits, a throttled request returns nothing and looks exactly like a real zero — so every cohort was retried with backoff until it resolved, and the run refuses to finish while any cohort is unresolved. The published file has zero unresolved cohorts.

One correction this method forced. NHTSA renamed the Mach-E's ODI string partway through the range: MUSTANG MACH-E covers MY2021-2022 and MUSTANG MACH-E BEV covers MY2023-2024. Treated as separate nameplates, the newer string alone ranks 2nd at 18.8% (30/160). Merged — they are one vehicle — the Mach-E is 12.1% (77/636) and ranks 11th. We merged them, and we checked every other prefix-related string pair in the dataset for the same disjoint-model-year pattern.

Aggregation. Cohorts are summed to the nameplate, then ranked by brake share = SERVICE BRAKES complaints / all complaints for that nameplate. Nameplates with fewer than 150 total complaints are excluded from the ranking (they remain in the CSV).

The reversal check. Ranking by raw brake count instead of share produces a different leader — Ford Fusion Hybrid (240) and Fusion Energi (219) top the raw list while sitting at only ~8% share. Share is the fleet-age normalizer, and the confound is visible inside single nameplates (Prius 23 brake complaints in MY2016 falling to 2 in MY2024; Fusion Hybrid 122 in MY2016 to 0 in MY2020). Because the two metrics disagree, this article makes no unqualified "worst hybrid for brakes" claim.

Known limits. (1) Complaint counts are unnormalized by vehicles sold — NHTSA publishes no sales denominator, so these are shares of complaint composition, not per-vehicle failure rates. (2) Share corrects for fleet age but not fleet size; the Sienna Hybrid (183 complaints) and Insight (183) rest on smaller, noisier bases than the Accord Hybrid (1,045). (3) NHTSA's API does not split powertrain within a model string, so we relied on dedicated hybrid/EV nameplates; a small number of miscoded records could remain. (4) SERVICE BRAKES is a broad NHTSA bucket that includes automatic-emergency-braking complaints, which is why the Accord Hybrid's share is flagged as substantially phantom braking rather than pedal loss. (5) Complaints are unverified consumer reports and are influenced by publicity.

Reproduce it. Every cohort behind this article, with its total and brake counts, is in the frozen CSV: used-hybrids-most-brake-complaints-nhtsa-data-vin-check-2026-09-01.csv.

Sources

• NHTSA ODI vehicle-complaints API (complaintsByVehicle) — primary dataset
• NHTSA datasets & APIs hub (FLAT_CMPL flat file + API docs)
• NHTSA products/vehicle/models endpoint — exact ODI make/model strings
• NHTSA VIN recall lookup (free)
• Frozen analysis CSV — every cohort behind this article
• The Detroit News: NHTSA probes braking-loss petition on 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrid (2026-08-25)
• Autoblog/Yahoo: 2024 Maverick Hybrid petition (82,040 trucks; received 2026-07-20)
• Carscoops: Ford Maverick brake petition detail
• CarComplaints: Petition — Ford Maverick Hybrids braking problems

Last verified: 2026-09-01