Toyota Announces Massive Recall of Hybrid Vehicles

VOA News
8 February 2010

Japanese automaker Toyota says it will recall more than 400,000 hybrid vehicles around the world including its latest Prius model, to fix faulty brakes.

At a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon, company president Akio Toyoda again apologized for the problems and said the safety of its customers is Toyota's foremost priority.

The recall affects the Prius, the Lexus HS250h sedan and the Sai, which is sold only in Japan. In addition to Japan, the recall affects markets in the U.S. and Europe.

The automaker said a delay in braking does not indicate a brake failure. Toyota said it will offer a software fix for the affected models.

The world's largest automaker has already recalled millions of other vehicles recently to repair problems with unintended acceleration.

Members of the U.S. Congress are holding hearings on the recalls and safety issues. The first hearing is set for Wednesday when the president of Toyota's North American operations, Yoshimi Inaba, is scheduled to appear along with U.S. safety and transportation officials.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.