Toyota is recalling the Prius in Japan for braking issues and it also plans to recall in many of the other 60 countries the Prius has been sold in.
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.
[Source: Japan Today]
Japan has ordered an investigation in regards to a Toyota Prius brake problem where several cases have been reported of a problem with Prius brakes not working correctly.
Toyota didn’t have any recalls regarding a problem with the Prius brakes, but has over 2 million vehicles being recalled in the US currently for gas pedal problems. Toyota dealers are preparing for the modification of the CTS gas pedal once the shims arrive, they may also be hearing about news of the Prius brake problem that customers may be calling about.
Now that Japan is requiring Toyota to investigate the Prius brake problem, and Steve Wozniak’s Prius could have software “glitches”, all the stuff related to Toyota recalls and new problems are getting harder to keep in order.
Up until now Prius brake problems haven’t been really in the news although some Prius owners have had symptoms of specific types of problems with braking. Toyota owners have expressed confusion, and frustration, in simply trying to get answers from the company about what to do. Prius owners are now wondering what may be the problem related to their brakes and whether or not they are safe to drive their Prius while this matter is looked into..
The problem with brakes in the Toyota Prius models are being reported in the hundreds in the USA and 14 cases of brake problems with the Prius in Japan currently with one accident resulting in a head on collision. This points to electronic issues and not mechanical friction or other means of wear and tear leading to the problem.
The PriusChat Forums have started a Prius Brakes online poll to determine the number of members on the forum who’ve had any sort of braking issues with their Prius.
In addition to this news of the Japan Prius brake problem investigation, there is one story of a famous Prius owner - Steve Wozniak. Steve loves his Prius but has been having some strange cruise control behavior that he says he’ll be happy to recreate the example if Toyota would simply call him back. Toyota got in touch and will be taking Wozniak’s Prius and will provide him a rental while they do some testing. I’m sure that Steve will ask Toyota to check his brakes while they are at it.
Famous people who drive Toyota Prius include celebrity’s such as Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Ferrell, and quite a few more.
Toyota is also getting some pressure from Ray LaHood of the NHTSA stating that they may have not found reason to object to Toyota’s shim for the pedal, but they are also possibly investigating whether electromagnetic interference could be causing erratic behavior in the sensors which relay on magnetic and Hall IC effects to operate properly.
For more info regarding the NHTSA and keep an eye out for updates here about the Prius.
