Report: Toyota Expands Brake Investigation to Cover All Hybrids After Admitting Issues With the Prius
Toyota has now expanded its internal investigation over braking issues to cover all hybrid models says a report by the Wall Street Journal. Toyota has already admitted that there was a braking problem with its 2010 Prius model, and according to Japan’s Nikkei News, Toyota is preparing to issue a recall for 270,000 Prius models from the 2010 model year.
Toyota has admitted it knew of a problem that caused a brief loss of braking during the transition from the car’s regenerative braking to its traditional friction braking. Toyota refers to this as “slight unresponsiveness” and says it usually lasts less than a second. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as well as Japanese authorities have registered over 100 complaints about the car’s brake system, where owners say they experienced a brief loss of braking capability when traveling over bumpy or icy roads. Toyota has said the issue has been solved on all models produced since late January but no recall has been ordered for models built before that time.
The 2010 Prius model was not covered under the previous recall of 2.3 million vehicles for sticking accelerators or “unintended acceleration.” Those recalled vehicles use a brake assembly by Indiana-based CTS Corp, while the 2010 Prius and other hybrid Toyota products use a brake system developed by Denso.
Additional Toyota hybrid models that will now come under investigation include the Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid. It is not year clear if the investigation will also cover Lexus hybrid models.
With the Prius recall reportedly coming, can recalls for all Toyota hybrids be far behind?
See more Toyota recall news here: Toyota Recall News Hub
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
More by Colum Wood
Comments
Join the conversation
I have a 2005 Highlander Hybrid that has on occasion had the same issue. I cannot tell if there is acceleration, or if there is a pause in the braking. It is brief, but you know it when it happens.
I own a 2007 Toyota Prius and it accelerated on its own yesterday and would not brake. I almost ran my daughter down in my driveway. I loved my prius for the past three years but now I am scared to death to drive it. The brakes would not stop at all and I ran into a ditch to avoid hitting my daughter. The brakes did the same thing to my brother about 6 weeks ago when he was driving my car. I had the car towed to the dealer and called Toyota and was given a case number but I do not know where to go from here. The braking was not that brief nor was the accelarating. My foot was not on the accelarated AT ALL and I had BOTH feet slammed on the brakes and the car did not respond at all. If anyone out there has had any of the same issues please respond to my email. I do not want to sell the prius for fear that I could be endangering someone elses family out there but I sure will never get back in my car. I still cannot get the images out of my mind.