2010-2-5
By Yuri Kageyama
TOYOTA acknowledged design problems with the brakes in its prized Prius, adding to the catalog of safety woes at the Japanese auto maker as it reels from massive global recalls involving faulty gas pedals.
Toyota Motor Corp, which yesterday reported a US$1.7 billion profit for the October-December quarter, said it had corrected problems with the anti-lock brake system in the Prius models sold since late last month, including those shipped overseas.
But the company was still deciding what steps to take to fix the problem in Prius cars sold in Japan and overseas before late January.
Complaints about braking problems in the Prius - the world's top-selling gas-electric hybrid - have been reported in the United States and Japan, combining to some 180, and come against a recall of nearly 4.5 million vehicles for faulty gas pedals.
The Prius was not part of the recall spanning the US, Europe and China over sticking gas pedals in eight top-selling models, including the Camry.
Toyota for the first time gave an estimate of the costs of the global gas-pedal recall. The US$2 billion total represents US$1.1 billion for repairs and US$770 million to US$880 million in lost sales. Toyota is expecting to lose 100,000 in vehicle sales because of the recall fallout - 80,000 of them in North America.
The Prius flaw, which requires a software programming change to fix, makes the brakes momentarily unresponsive. Toyota was checking if there were reports of similar problems with other hybrid models though they use a different braking system from the Prius.
Whether a recall is necessary for the Prius was still undecided, according to Toyota Executive Hiroyuki Yokoyama, but Japan's transport minister urged the auto manufacturer to consider it and is ordering an investigation.
According to Paul Nolasco, a company spokesman, the time lag for brakes kicking in felt by drivers stem from the two systems in a gas-electric hybrid - the gas-engine and the electric motor.
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