TECH-LEADING HYBRID SAID TO HAVE BRAKE PROBLES

+ Click to Enlarge GOING GREENER: Toyota's third-generation Prius hybrid was launched in May 2009 and will be joined in 2011 by a hybrid version of the Yaris compact. Image: AFP

February 5, 2010
By Daniel Rook

The crisis rocking Toyota intensified today as the Japanese automaker prepared to recall several hundred thousand of its much-vaunted, high-tech Prius hybrids and was slapped with a US lawsuit alleging it covered up safety problems.

The Japanese giant, which dethroned General Motors in 2008 as the world's most prolific automaker, is reeling from a litany of complaints about problems ranging from unintended acceleration to brake failure.

Though Toyota is already pulling millions of vehicles off the roads worldwide because of sticking accelerators, the flagship Prius has now become the latest model to be targeted in US investigations.

The Nikkei business daily said Toyota had decided to recall an estimated 270 000 Prius cars in Japan and the US to fix a brake problem affecting the newest version of the hybrid.

On Thursday the US authorities ordered a probe into the problems with the Prius, a model vital to Toyota's efforts to recover from a huge financial loss in 2009. The group is already facing a $2-billion bill from the huge recalls.

The White House said US president Barack Obama had been briefed about Toyota's safety problems after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Toyota owners should "stop driving" their cars them and take them to a dealer. He later retracted the remark, which caused a brief furore.

And lawyers are now getting into the action: a class-action lawsuit has been started in Colorado alleging that Toyota had known about the unexpected acceleration issue "for several years".

Toyota said today it was still considering whether to recall the Prius a day after confirming there was a design flaw with the fuel-sipping car. The company said it had redesigned the anti-lock braking system for Prius units now coming off the production line and would soon announce steps for those already on the road.

Toyota is not the only major automaker with problems; Ford said there was a problem with the brakes on some of its hybrid vehicles.

The Prius - which combines a petrol combustion engine with a battery-powered electric motor - is Toyota's best-selling hybrid and vital to the company's efforts to stay in pole position in fuel-efficient vehicles.

In Washington, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a formal probe into the Prius after 124 complaints from owners of the 2010 model. The investigation would examine "allegations of momentary loss of braking capability while travelling on an uneven road or over a pothole or bump", the government agency said.

TOYOTA BOSS STILL SILENT

Toyota has come under heavy fire in the US for its handling of recalls affecting about eight-million vehicles worldwide - more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8-million vehicles.

Apart from a brief interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK over the weekend in Switzerland, Toyota's president Akio Toyoda has not appeared in public to comment on the recalls since they went global last week.

The accelerator pedal problems have been blamed for several accidents, including an August crash in California in which four family members were killed after their Lexus accelerated on a highway and crashed in a ball of flames.

Despite the troubles, the Japanese giant said Thursday it was on course to earn the equivalent of $880-million this fiscal year to March. Toyota shares rose 0.15 percent to 3,285 yen in morning trade after plunging more than 20 percent though the previous two weeks. - AFP