Toyota Yaris - Reliability and safety
Toyota Yaris customers can be reassured by excellent reliability and good safety kit, all backed up by a generous warranty package
Toyota has long been known for producing reliable cars, with solid build quality and good levels of safety. In our 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, the Yaris finished in 3rd out of 50 on the best cars to own list, beating the VW Polo in 41st. Toyota placed 8th out of 32 manufacturers, which was behind Kia, but still well ahead of rivals such as Hyundai, Honda, Skoda, SEAT, VW, and Renault.
Safety experts Euro NCAP awarded the Yaris five stars for safety in 2020, with some impressive individual scores: adult and child occupant protection achieved 86 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively, while the car's onboard safety assist tech was given an 85 per cent rating. The Honda Jazz (tested in the same year) scored better in most areas, except for safety assistance technology.
The Yaris has lots of safety kit as standard, including active systems such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB), that’ll put the brakes on at lower speeds to hopefully avoid collisions with not just other cars, but cyclists, motor bikes, and pedestrians. It also has Road Sign Assist to ping up speed limit warnings, Emergency Steering Assist and lane keep assistance system help to carefully nudge you back into your lane, and a Driver Attention Alert if the system thinks you need to stop and rest. Entry-level cars also come with a reversing camera, Automatic High Beam and Toyota’s e-call emergency call system to contact the emergency services if an airbag is deployed.
High-end Excel trim comes with a blind spot monitoring system to let you know of vehicles alongside you on the motorway, and a rear-cross traffic alert system to warn you of vehicles crossing your path when reversing onto a main road.
Warranty
Toyota provides a standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty for the Yaris, with the opportunity to extend the cover for an extra 12 months/10,000 miles every time you have the car serviced at an authorised Toyota repairer – up to a maximum of ten years/100,000 miles (whichever comes first).
Servicing
Toyota says the fourth-generation Yaris needs servicing once a year or every 10,000 miles, whichever comes first. Yaris customers can take out a Toyota Service Plan from £27 per month, which covers three services and the cost of an MOT – once the car is old enough to qualify for one. It also extends the one-year Toyota Roadside assistance policy every new Toyota car gets by two years.
