Toyota is in the recall business this morning. Again. Toyota is recalling 437,000 of its flagship Prius’ and other hybrid cars over a breaking issue. This recall mostly applies to the 2010 Prius models, but there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that Toyota knew about the breaking problem in previous models and simply ignored it.
Toyota is having a bad year. It has already recalled more than eight million vehicles world wide over floormats and unintentional acceleration. And, of course, recalls mean law suits – particularly with more than 19 deaths and many more injuries being blamed on the car defects
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that Toyota’s leaders have assured him they are taking safety concerns “very seriously.” In a statement, LaHood said the transportation agency will “remain in constant communication with Toyota to hold them to that promise.”
Toyota’s President, Akio Toyoda, apologized to the world yesterday for having moved too slowly on these recalls. “I apologize for causing trouble and worries for many customers over the quality and safety of Toyota,” Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, told a news conference in Tokyo.
“Let me assure everyone that we will redouble our commitment to quality as a lifeline of our company.”
“With myself taking the lead, and by keeping to the ‘genchi genbutsu’ principle, all of us at Toyota will tackle the issue in close cooperation with dealers and suppliers together, we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers.”
223,000 of the cars being recalled are in Japan, including nearly 200,000 Priuses sold from April last year through Monday. In the U.S., Toyota will recall 133,000 Prius cars and 14,500 Lexus HS250h vehicles.
The glitch that is causing this recall doesn’t cause actual break failure, just occasional breaking delays in cold conditions and on some bumpy roads. The company says the problem can be fixed in forty minutes with new software that your local dealer can install.
