Toyota’s reputation could be tarnished for years
Toyota is considering recalling some Prius models in Japan and the US following concerns about the hybrid’s brakes, the carmaker has confirmed.

The US Transportation Department is investigating braking problems in the 2010 Toyota Prius after Toyota admitted brake problems with the model.

The carmaker had said it had fixed the problem in January.

Toyota has already recalled more than eight million cars worldwide over concerns about accelerator pedals.

“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,” said Toyota UK’s managing director Miguel Fonseca.

“There is still an investigation going on with the relevant authorities.”

Further investigation

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

TOYOTA RECALLS: STORY SO FAR
September 2007, US: 55,000 Camry and Lexus cars in floormat recall
October 2009, US: 3.8m Toyota and Lexus vehicles recalled due to floormat problem
November 2009, US: floormat recall increased to 4.2m vehicles
January 2010, US: 2.3m Toyota vehicles recalled due to accelerator pedal problems (Of those, 2.1m already involved in floormat recall)
January 2010, US: 1.1m Toyotas in floormat recall
February 2010, Europe: 1.8m Toyota’s in pedal recall
February 2010, Japan, US: 200 reports of brake faults in new Prius. None recalled

Q&A: Toyota recalls
Toyota UK repairs start next week
There have been no reports of any such accidents in the UK.

The investigation will look into allegations of momentary loss of braking power while travelling over uneven road surfaces.

As depressing the brakes further activated normal braking, Toyota said the glitch was not legally a safety hazard and said it had received no reports of any accidents related to it.

‘Very disappointed’

Mr Fonseca told the BBC that the braking problem was “not a defect, but a characteristic of the way the ABS system is tuned.”

However, he did say that “we are very disappointed to have let customers down and accept that we could have handled [the problem] better.”

On Thursday, the carmaker reported a net income of 153 billion yen ($1.68bn; £1.06bn) for the final three months of 2009, compared with a loss of 164 billion yen a year earlier.

The firm also said it still expected higher sales and to make a profit this year, despite the heavy blow to the company’s reputation.

Toyota estimates its losses will reach $2bn (£1.23bn) in costs and lost sales from its worldwide recall of vehicles that might have faulty accelerator pedals, but a recall of Prius models would send this figure even higher.

“The losses could escalate if it turns out that the trust and reputation the company built up over a period of decades has been demolished almost overnight,” said BBC business reporter Jorn Madslien.

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