Toyota's recall crisis

Problems with the Prius

To say it has not been a good week for Toyota is somewhat of an understatement. First there were recalls of more than eight million cars over concerns about accelerator pedals jamming, but now the US Transportation Department is investigating braking problems in the 2010 Toyota Prius.

Toyota, who has been one of the most successful carmakers in the face of the recession, today saw its President Akio Toyoda apologise for the recall and admitted the carmaker was facing a "moment of crisis."

Pledging to set up a new quality control committee, he said the firm was doing everything in their power to find out about the brake problems in the Prius Hybrid, which has become one of the most popular models in the world.

Worldwide problems

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 124 reports from drivers about the braking issue, including four of crashes.

Reports of problems with the brake system have also been received in the UK, and could see over 270,000 cars recalled.

Toyota's managing director Miguel Fonseca was quoted as saying, "There have been a number of complaints (about the Prius) in the US and also Japan.

"There have been some mentions also in Europe, I have to say very few, and very few in the UK. There are reasons to believe that a recall could be put in place [in the US and Japan], but it's still early hours and early days."

The company was already recalling 180,000 cars due to the accelerator issues. To fix the problem, new parts are currently being shipped from Japan to dealers across the country, but it will take days for them to arrive.

Toyota is launching an investigation but it is believed that the problem is not "a defect, but a characteristic of the way the ABS system is tuned."

No matter how you define it, the scandal is expected to severely dent Toyota's reputation with the accelerator problem estimated to cost the country US$500 million in lost sales.

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