Tuesday, 09 Feb 2010 17:05
Toyota announces mass recall of hybrid Prius
By Richard James.
Beleaguered car manufacturer Toyota has announced a global recall of its newest Prius model due to problems with its brakes.
The decision means around 436,000 hybrid vehicles, including the Prius and two other models, will be recalled.
Of the almost half a million cars, over 200,000 are believed to be vehicles sold in Japan and 8,500 in the UK.
Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda announced the decision at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.
"We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority," he told reporters.
The recall follows complaints from Toyota owners in the US and Japan of experiencing a delay in braking under certain conditions.
The company's global reputation has taken a battering in recent weeks following a series of recalls of around eight million vehicles due to sticking accelerator pedals.
Toyota has blamed the most recent problems with the Prius on a software fault which it claims to have fixed on vehicles sold this year.
The car manufacturer said prior to the Prius announcement, the series of recalls had cost the company around $2 billion (£1.23 billion).
The US transport department has declared it is to investigate the braking problem, with Toyota pledging to cooperate fully with the inquiries.