banktime.com

In a surprise to exactly nobody, Toyota has announced the recall of almost a half-million Prius hybrids along with several foreign incarnations of its flagship “green” hybrid vehicle. The vehicles are experiencing brake problems that have caused some drivers to lose ability to stop or slow down their cars over bumpy or uneven roads. The news brings even more shame to the world’s largest automaker, which is still reeling from the recall of more than ten of its best-selling models last month. Early this morning, Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda announced the news formally in Tokyo, stating that he has never seen the manufacturer “as an infallible company that never makes mistakes,” and that Toyota will “correct the problem, putting customers’ safety and convenience first.” Toyoda, who has in recent days been attacked by the press and the worldwide public as a scapegoat for all of Toyota’s problems, stated in no uncertain terms that Toyota’s focus going forward would be a “redouble[d] commitment” to quality and reliability, two things for which Toyota has long been recognized as a company and manufacturer. As opposed to the beginning of the Toyota crisis, when Toyoda himself was largely absent from the goings-on, the president has been very visible since the beginning of the last week. Toyoda read from a statement in English before addressing the assembled audience in Japanese.

The news of the latest recalls has made the total number of Toyota recalls expand to over eight and a half million worldwide since November 2009. The problems include floor mats that can entrap accelerators causing them to stick, and the actual stuck gas pedals that have caused some collisions and deaths due to drivers being unable to control their runaway cars. (To date, the accelerator issues have been known to affect the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, and Pontiac Vibe sedans, the Highlander, RAV4, and Sequoia SUVs, and the Tundra truck, along with a few of the Lexus models that Toyota also makes.) Until now, the Prius – the best-selling car in Japan – had been one of the few most popular Toyota models to escape all the recall notifications. That trend ended today.

In Japan and the U.S., there have been around two hundred complaints about the Prius’s brakes. According to reports, in cold weather and when driving over bumpy roads or potholes, the Prius brakes will occasionally not work right away. According to Toyota, this delay is not indicative of brake failure, but actually a malfunction of the internal computer unique to the hybrid’s design. The problem can apparently be fixed in less than three-quarters of an hour with a software tweak that fixes the vehicle’s control of the antilock brakes system. Until then, Toyota advises, any Prius drivers experiencing a delay in the action of their brakes should keep pressing until they kick in.

Ray LaHood, the United States’ Transportation Secretary, has been vigilant in his attention to the Toyota situation and his ceaseless demands for the company to make right the wrongs it has perpetuated against the country’s drivers. Today, LaHood reassured American drivers that the auto manufacturer’s leaders are taking the vehicle problems and accompanying safety concerns “very seriously.” LaHood has also pledged to stay in constant communication with Toyoda and the rest of Toyota’s leadership until the problem is satisfactorily resolved.

The U.S. government is also being held on the hook to some extent for the current Toyota crisis. State Farm, the country’s biggest auto insurer, went on record in late 2007 with concerns about “unexplained acceleration” that had been seen in Toyota vehicles. Now, congressional investigators have kicked off an inquiry to determine whether federal regulators missed or ignored warning signs that the problems with Toyota were serious and worthy of attention.

Over in Japan, Toyota officials are also recalling the other two hybrid models it makes: the Lexus HS250h (sold elsewhere, as well as in Japan), and the Sai (sold exclusively in Japan). Japan will suspend the production of these cars until the updated software to repair the brake assembly is ready to be installed. Company leaders approached the Japanese Transport Ministry early this morning with formal notification that a recall would be necessary, as required by Japanese law. In Japan, the quarter-million autos being recalled include over two hundred thousand Priuses sold between April 2009 and last Monday’s date. In America, Toyota North America has recalled one hundred thirty-three thousand Prius cars, as well as over fourteen thousand Lexus HS250h units. That’s in addition to over fifty thousand Priuses recalled in Europe.

The Prius was among the first mass-marketed hybrid vehicles to be released to the public. It was first released in Japan in 1997, and was revolutionary with its electric motor and gas engine. Its popularity was tremendous among environmentally-conscious drivers from the get-go, but the skyrocketing gas prices of 2007 and 2008 really made Prius sales take off. The cars’ highly-computerized innards have given drivers some other problems, but the brake recall marks the first major problem that the model has had since its inception.

As many as four crashes are believed to have come about as a result of the malfunctioning Prius brakes, two involving injuries to the driver. This is drawn from information compiled by the U.S.’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Toyota claims to be cooperating with NHTSA’s investigation into its mechanical problems.

Also announced Tuesday was a much smaller Toyota recall – about seventy-three hundred of Toyota’s Camry sedans released early in the 2010 production year. These cars reportedly have a brake fluid leak. Dealerships are supposed to check out these cars to see if the potential for a brake fluid leak exists, and fix it if the answer is affirmative. The problem is apparently a power steering hose that could rub on the brake tube, wearing away at it and causing a leak. If the fluid leaks out, the vehicle in question could take more time to stop. Owners of affected Camrys will begin getting letters informing them of the recall next week.