Toyota decides to recall over 170,000 Prius cars in Japan

Sunday 07th February, 01:30 PM JST

NAGOYA —

Toyota Motor Corp has decided to recall and repair free of charge the latest model of its Prius hybrid sold in the domestic market due to complaints over brake problems, sources close to the matter said Sunday.

Subject to the recall are at least 170,000 units of the Prius car, which went on the market last May.

The automaker has begun notifying its dealers and is expected to report the plan to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry early this week, before announcing it to the public, the sources said.

Toyota has sold more than 300,000 units of the Prius in about 60 countries. The company intends to begin recalls or voluntary repairs outside Japan as well, they added.

In Japan, manufacturers need to report a recall plan to the ministry when their products are found not to meet safety standards and the cause lies in the design and production processes.

Toyota has said the problems with the Prius are not fundamental defects and has sought to fix them under a voluntary ‘‘service campaign.’‘

But the company has apparently concluded that a recall is unavoidable if it wants to regain the trust of its customers.

Toyota has received a number of complaints involving the brakes on the latest model of its popular Prius hybrid car in Japan and abroad. The complaints allege that the car suffers from momentary brake failure when traveling over uneven surfaces, potholes or bumps in the road.

Under the recall, the company plans to fix the problem by improving the software for the antilock brake system.

The fix can be made at Toyota dealerships in less than an hour. Vehicles manufactured in late January and after already have the updated software.

The company has reportedly began informing its dealers in the United States about a similar recall plan involving some 100,000 Prius vehicles sold there.

The gas-electric Prius hybrid car has been a symbol of Toyota’s technological strength and was the best-selling car in Japan last year.

Prius recalls would deal a heavy blow to the automaker, which has already recalled millions of vehicles from other product lines around the world over different problems.

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Latest 15 of 23 Total Comments Show All

Branded at 05:55 PM JST - 7th February

"The auto industry, American car makers, should be thankful for Toyota for paving the way for hybrid cars."

Huh ? Where exactly do you all come from ? American technology is at the heart of hybrid engines- it is why Toyota continues to get sued in court;

"Solomon brought suit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, on September 12, 2005, claiming infringement of Solomon's U.S. Patent Number 5,067,932, primarily relating to Toyota's use of the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology in its Prius and Highlander Hybrid vehicles. On January 11, 2006, Solomon filed an additional complaint against Toyota with the ITC seeking to exclude importation of the infringing technology. The action against Toyota and its affiliates in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, has been stayed pending resolution of the ITC action."

I'm actually surprised Toyota hasn't checked into this angle- "hey it's not our technology to begin with" ! What a sad state of affairs.
Disillusioned at 06:53 PM JST - 7th February

Ooooooh! That's gotta hurt! No more blaming the foreign manufacturers.
guest at 07:03 PM JST - 7th February

Japanese owe the American media,

a massive thank you,

forcing Toyota to admit to problems and recall, it has saved untold Japanese lives. It may not have happened on its own.
gogogo at 08:01 PM JST - 7th February

Now those the Japanese people that think it was a punishment for being a Japanese company can eat their words.
gogogo at 08:03 PM JST - 7th February

guest: Very good point, the US media and their quest for safety have saved the lives of Japanese people.
wanderlust at 08:18 PM JST - 7th February

Looks like they were hoping in Japan to covertly upgrade the software when the car was in for routine services or other minor fixes, but the total reset of all you electric settings is a bit of a giveaway, as other readers have already written.
gogogo at 08:34 PM JST - 7th February

kavikahi: Japanese people don't see it that way: http://japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/japanese-ask-is-us-backlash-on-toyota-a-ploy-to-boost-american-auto-producers
memyselfI at 11:04 PM JST - 7th February

Great !!!! Customer is always first, but they took to long to address the problem. Let's move on !!!!
kyoken at 11:29 PM JST - 7th February

Toyota have always been in the forefront of technology when it comes to cars [...]

Truth is, Toyota is well renown to built simple, reliable and cheap cars, just right for the baby-boomer generation. It always was a late adopter of new technology, hence it never was exposed to the risks of flawed technology designs.

Side-note: Hybrid was invented centuries ago for trains and first adopted to cars by Audi about 20 years ago (Audi Eco). Audi scrapped the concept as battery technology and customer demand was not yet ready.
skipbeat at 03:14 AM JST - 8th February

@Branded said, "Solomon brought suit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, http://japantoday.com/category/business/view/toyota-decides-to-recall-over-170000-prius-cars-in-japan on September 12, 2005, claiming infringement of Solomon's U.S. Patent Number 5,067,932, primarily relating to Toyota's use of the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology in its Prius and Highlander Hybrid vehicles. On January 11, 2006, Solomon filed an additional complaint against Toyota with the ITC seeking to exclude importation of the infringing technology. The action against Toyota and its affiliates in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, has been stayed pending resolution of the ITC action."

Every company will get sued for one thing or another. Even Pepsi had to pay 1.6 billion for stealing two Wisconsin idea men for bottled water. Apple is currently under the radar by a Chinese company, henzhen Great Long Brother Industrial Co., for stealing the design on the iPad. Along with that, a Japanese company, Fujitsu, is suing Apple for the name "iPad. " Good for Solomon.

I really like the commercial about the Toyota recall. I feel it did pretty good in getting their message across to their customers. Will this commercial be shown on the Super Bowl today with millions of viewers watching the football game?
skipbeat at 03:52 AM JST - 8th February

@kyoken said, "Side-note: Hybrid was invented centuries ago for trains and first adopted to cars by Audi about 20 years ago (Audi Eco). Audi scrapped the concept as battery technology and customer demand was not yet ready."

There are three concept hybrid cars from the Audio maker: Audi A1 Sportback Concept, Audi A1 Project quattro®, and Audi Q7 Hybrid. I am not sure if they are in the market or not.
anderstungtwist at 05:25 AM JST - 8th February

No matter how perfect a system and/or product is there will always be flaws.

Not with a total quality control system. I guess they'll have to change the name to "almost total quality control".

Brakes and accelerators should pretty much be perfect, though. What a horrible place to have a defect. Just listen to that Lexus's 911 call and you can imagine the horrible deaths those people suffered.
LFRAgain at 12:23 PM JST - 8th February

“Now those the Japanese people that think it was a punishment for being a Japanese company can eat their words.”

Funny you should say that . . .

"Looks like they were hoping in Japan to covertly upgrade the software . . . "

Like Ford quietly did this week with their hybrid vehicles suffering from the same problem?

"(February 04, 2010, DETROIT) – Ford Motor Co. plans to fix 17,600 Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrids because of a software problem that can give drivers the impression that the brakes have failed. The automaker says the problem occurs in transition between two braking systems and at no time are drivers without brakes . . . The move comes on the same day that NHTSA began an evaluation of braking problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid."

This news has all the earmarks of Toyota’s problems with the Prius, yet American media has barely touched it, devoting most of its energy to painting Toyota a lovely shade of treacherous. The problem seems to be in Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids built before October 17, 2009, and in Ford Escape hybrids built in 2008 as well, according to the NHTSA database.

When drivers start piling on reports, true or not, of braking problems with their Toyotas, prompting Toyota to address the issue in a way that seems slow or unconcerned, people smell cover-up or conspiracy. When Ford does essentially the same thing, a year after problems started surfacing with their hybrid’s brake systems, and on the heels of a NHTSA investigation into Toyota, people don’t smell a thing.

It seems some brands do indeed receive more criticism than others.
sfjp330 at 06:05 AM JST - 9th February

Branded at 05:55 PM JST - 7th February. Huh ? Where exactly do you all come from ? American technology is at the heart of hybrid engines- it is why Toyota continues to get sued in court;

If the American technology is at the heart of the hybrid engine, why is Ford using technology patented by Toyota. Although the Ford hybrid system is very similar to Toyota's, Toyota is not directly supplying any components to Ford. Toyota and Ford have entered into a licensing agreement allowing Ford to use technology that had been PATENTED BY TOYOTA and used on Ford Escape hybrid and Fusion Hybrid. Why can't Ford make their own?
sfjp330 at 09:12 AM JST - 9th February

Branded at 05:55 PM JST - 7th February. American technology is at the heart of hybrid engines

Paice’s intellectual property holdings consist primarily of patents originated by inventor Dr. Alex Severinsky, a Russian immigrant who is an electrical engineer by training. I’m also reminded of how this kind of behaviour is actually chilling innovation, rather than protecting the small inventor. It’s coming to the point where patents are going to need to be considered in a fashion similar to trademarks. If you don’t defend them, or aren’t able to demonstrate that you’re suffering loss, then sucks to be you for sitting on it for a decade. The patent system is not supposed to be a mechanism for extortion.