Most common 2008 Toyota Yaris problems
Share of the 247 complaints; one complaint can involve more than one system. "~" is the median mileage when the problem started.
Toyota Yaris complaints by model year
Best Yaris years: 2006, 2016, 2013. Years to avoid: 2008, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012. Compare all years →
2008 Toyota Yaris recalls (10)
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2010-2016 4Runner, 2003-2006 Tundra, 2003-2013 Corolla, 2009-2010 Corolla Matrix, 2004-2005 RAV4, 2002-2007 Sequoia, 2011-2013 Sienna, 2008-2012 Scion xB, 2008-2009 Lexus IS-F, 2007-2012 Yaris and Lexus ES350, 2010-2017 Lexus GX460, 2002-2010 Lexus SC430,…
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front driver inflator, front passenger airbag inflator, the airbag assembly, or the front passenger airbag sub-assembly and inflator.
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2012 Toyota 4Runner, Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sienna, Yaris, Scion xB, Lexus ES350, GX460, IS-F, IS250, IS350, IS250C, IS350C, and Lexus LFA vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana,…
Remedy: Toyota will notify the Toyota, Scion and Lexus owners. General Motors will contact the Pontiac owners. Depending on the model, dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator or the air bag assembly, free of…
Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2008-2011 Scion xB and Lexus IS F, 2009-2011 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix, 2006-2011 Toyota Yaris, Lexus IS250 and Lexus IS350, 2010-2011 Toyota 4Runner, Lexus IS250C, Lexus IS350C and Lexus GX460, 2011 Sienna, 2007-2011 Lexus ES350, and…
Remedy: Toyota will notify the Toyota and Lexus owners. General Motors will contact the Pontiac owners. Depending on the model, dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator or the air bag assembly, free of…
Visibility › Power window devices and controls
Toyota Motor Company (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2009-2011 Tundra, Sequoia, Corolla, Corolla Matrix and Scion xB, 2008-2011 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid, 2007 Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2006-2011 RAV4, 2006-2010 Yaris, and 2009-2010 Scion xD and Pontiac Vibe vehicles.
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the switch, applying a lubricant if no abnormality is found. If abnormality is found, the PWMS circuit board will be replaced, free of charge.
Seats
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2006-2010 Yaris vehicles manufactured August 22, 2005, through May 12, 2010, and 2008-2010 Scion xD vehicles manufactured April 4, 2007, through May 12, 2010.
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the seat rail, and replace it with a new one, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began on July 3, 2014. Owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.
Air bags › Frontal › Driver side › Inflator module
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2006-2008 RAV4, 2006-2010 Yaris, 2008-2010 Highlander, and 2009-2010 Tacoma, Corolla, Corolla Matrix and General Motors Pontiac Vibe vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the steering column assembly contains electrical connections to the driver's airbag module housed in a spiral cable…
Remedy: Toyota will notify the Toyota vehicle owners, and General Motors will notify the Pontiac Vibe owners. Toyota sent owners an interim notification letter in May 2014 to advise owners of the recall.
Show 4 more recalls
Visibility › Power window devices and controls
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2007-2009 Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4, Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Tundra, Sequoia, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, Yaris, Scion xB, Scion xD and Pontiac Vibe vehicles.
Remedy: Toyota will notify its owners, and dealers will inspect the switch and apply a special grease that inhibits heat build up or replace any switch damaged by the defect, free of charge.
Equipment › Other › Labels
Gulf states Toyota is recalling certain model year 2005-2010 vehicles for failing to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 110, "tire selection and rims." these vehicles were sold between September 1, 2005 and June 2, 2008 without the requisite load carrying capacity modification labels.
Remedy: Dealers will mail to consumers the corrected label or the customer will have the option for dealers to install the label free of charge. Dealers will also correct the owner's manual.
Equipment › Other › Labels
Southeast Toyota is recalling certain model year 2005-2011 passenger vehicles for failing to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 110, "tire selection and rims." these vehicles were sold without the requisite load carrying capacity modification labels.
Remedy: Dealers will mail to consumers the corrected label or the customer will have the option for dealers to install the label free of charge. The safety recall began on May 27, 2010.
Equipment › Other › Labels
Toyota is recalling 27,080 model year 2005 through 2010 passenger cars built from September 1, 2005 to May 4, 2009. These vehicles were not equipped with load carrying capacity modification labels which fails to conform with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 110, "tire selection and rims."
Remedy: Toyota will notify owners and provide them with a new, accurate label to be installed over the inaccurate label free of charge. The safety recall began on August 18, 2009. Owners May contact Toyota at 1-888-270-9371.
NHTSA defect investigations
Federal safety investigators have looked into 3 possible defects involving the 2008 Toyota Yaris:
Power Window Master Switch Fire
ODI has identified certain Toyota vehicles experiencing a higher rate of fire and thermal event incidents among all Toyota vehicles that use the same power window master switch design.They include a total of approximately 1.4 million model year (MY) 2007 through 2009 Camry, Camry Hybrid, RAV4 and Yaris vehicles built from approximately September 2006 through August 2008, as well as all MY 2008 Highlander Hybrid…
Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited.
Power Window Master Switch Fire
On October 10, 2012, Toyota initiated a safety recall of approximately 2.5 million U.S. vehicles involving the following models and model years:2007-2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2009 Corolla and Corolla Matrix, 2008 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid, 2007-2009 RAV4, 2008-2009 Scion xB and xD, 2008-2009 Sequoia, 2007-2008 Tundra, 2007-2008 Yaris, and 2009 Pontiac Vibe.See NHTSA recall number 12V-491 for more details,…
What 2008 Toyota Yaris owners say
Air bags all 124 →
My fiancee bought her 2008 Toyota Yaris on about the 26 Apr 2021. Right off she had brake failure pretty quickly after buying the car. Brake pads were suspected of failing. When the front tires were removed the calipers had built up thick rust on inside surface where the pads sit on both front calipers. The pads were pushed into the rotors heavily causing the driver side rotor to be damaged beyond acceptable limits. The right side rotor was turned successfully with enough rotor minimum thickness remaining. So the rust caused me to replace 1 rotor, both calipers and pads on front and rear brakes. The rust built up on the calipers threaded input and output brake fluid lines threaded attach points. This could have cause a fluid leak that could of been very dangerous leading to injury or death of occupants. I have not reported this to The Toyota dealership or anyone else. …
Tl* the contact owned a 2008 Toyota Yaris. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, another vehicle made an illegal turn causing the contact to t-bone the vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained internal chest injuries that required medical attention. The contact stated that she was in the trauma unit for two days. The other driver did not sustained injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent tow lot. The contact called autonation Toyota leesburg dealer; (located at 1 cardinal park dr se, leesburg, va 20175, [phone]) where two previous Takata recalls were performed on the vehicle. The first recall performed was on the passengers side air bag and later the driver side air bag. The NHTSA campaign numbers were not available. The contact was informed by the dealer to contact the corporate office of Toyota. …
Brakes all 37 →
Car was in park, ignition off, with the keys removed. The gear shift could apparently move in this locked position and the vehicle rolled backwards with a 6 year old child in the car. The car was totaled after hitting a concrete base to a light fixture. A failure occurred that allowed the car to shift gears off and in park.
My fiancee bought her 2008 Toyota Yaris on about the 26 Apr 2021. Right off she had brake failure pretty quickly after buying the car. Brake pads were suspected of failing. When the front tires were removed the calipers had built up thick rust on inside surface where the pads sit on both front calipers. The pads were pushed into the rotors heavily causing the driver side rotor to be damaged beyond acceptable limits. The right side rotor was turned successfully with enough rotor minimum thickness remaining. So the rust caused me to replace 1 rotor, both calipers and pads on front and rear brakes. The rust built up on the calipers threaded input and output brake fluid lines threaded attach points. This could have cause a fluid leak that could of been very dangerous leading to injury or death of occupants. I have not reported this to The Toyota dealership or anyone else. …
Electrical system all 21 →
Our daughter was driving on highway 44 in missouri at or near grey summit missouri with the cruise control set on, when our 2008 Toyota Yaris started to accelerate on it's own. Our daughter had to swerve to miss hitting other vehicle on the highway. She attempted to stop and the cruise control did not disengage. To avoid hitting another vehicle she steered the vehicle off the highway and crashed head on into trees. Toyota hired Bosch to have the "black box" analyzed. The company and Bosch claim no malfunction of the vehicle. Our daughter continues to dispute their claims and we have lost the vehicle in an insurance claim to aaa of missouri. In additional we have lost value in the vehicle, we are paying insurance accident penalties and lost $1000 in deductibles. We continue to dispute Toyota and Bosch's claim that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. …
The car has shut off several time while sitting at a traffic light. The car has shut down several times while driving. Thankfully no one was injured or hurt. Another issues: my current 2008 Yaris has only 23,382 miles on it, so the car does not have high mileage. I have installed a total of 2 different aftermarket alarms on the car both by professional businesses one being best buy. The car is currently in the shop because of various electrical components on the car not working. I have read on several websites that this is an issue with the 2008 Yaris. I've had to remove the first alarm after 3 months of purchase because I was told the alarm was the issue. The second alarm replacement causes the same problem. Is there an issue with installing aftermarket alarms on the 2008 Yaris and what can be done about it?
2008 Toyota Yaris engines & fuel economy
| Engine | Transmission | Drive | MPG city / hwy / combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5L 4-cyl | 5-speed manual | FWD | 29 / 36 / 32 |
| 1.5L 4-cyl | 4-speed automatic | FWD | 29 / 35 / 31 |
EPA ratings. Class: Subcompact car.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 2008 Toyota Yaris a good car?
Based on 247 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2008 Yaris rates avoid: 10.1× as many complaints as a typical year of the Yaris at the same age. It is one of the Yaris years we suggest avoiding. Complaint counts don't account for sales volume or individual maintenance, so have any used car inspected before buying.
What is the most common problem with the 2008 Toyota Yaris?
The air bags — 124 complaints, 50% of all complaints for this model year, most often about frontal. Next are the brakes (37) and electrical system (21).
How many recalls does the 2008 Toyota Yaris have?
There are 10 recalls for the 2008 Toyota Yaris, the most recent from October 17, 2019 (inflator module). Recall repairs are free at any authorized dealer — check whether yours has been done with the VIN recall check.
What are the best and worst years of the Toyota Yaris?
The best years by complaints, compared at the same age, are 2006, 2016 and 2013. Years to avoid or approach with caution: 2008, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012. See the full Toyota Yaris years comparison.
At what mileage do 2008 Toyota Yaris problems happen?
The median mileage reported in complaints is about 60,000 miles; 40% of problems with a recorded mileage started before 50,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.