Toyota Yaris Hybrid - Reliability & safety
Big-car safety technology and strong reliability should boost the Toyota Yaris Hybrid's appeal
Toyota has built a great reputation for reliability, especially for its hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius. These have become a staple for taxi drivers thanks to their low running costs and robustness, and while the Yaris is unlikely to suffer quite so much abuse, it feels just as tough.
Toyota Yaris reliability
The Toyota Yaris has dropped over the years in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, coming in at 36th out of the top 75 cars for 2023. Toyota will be hoping the latest 2024 facelift gives them a slight boost in rankings for the coming years. MPG and running costs, and the Yaris’ handling were both praised highly, while it was ranked 32nd for reliability.
We’ve not heard of any horror stories, and Toyota’s hybrid tech is well-proven, but this isn’t a particularly impressive ranking. Toyota as a brand, however, came in 12th place out of 32 brands, with just 15% of Toyota owners across the board reporting an issue with their car in the first year, which is much lower than average.
Safety
Euro NCAP put the Toyota Yaris through its paces in 2020, awarding it the maximum five-star rating. All Yaris models get state-of-the-art Toyota Safety Sense systems, so even the entry-level car gets adaptive cruise control that works at motorway speeds and in stop-start traffic, lane-keeping assistance and emergency steering assist – this can swerve you into another lane (if it’s safe to do so) when the system senses you’re about to have a crash.
Even standard cars are also fitted with a rear-view camera, making it easy to park the Yaris in tight spots. The pedestrian detection system will also scan for people walking across the road you’re about to turn into - and can stop the car if it thinks you’re going to hit them.