WASHINGTON - Toyota faced mounting pressure Thursday as the government opened a probe of brake problems with the Prius, a crown jewel of its lineup. The beleaguered automaker said it was "too soon" to decide whether to add the hybrid to the millions of cars it has recalled.
However, later in the day, a report in Tokyo said Toyota will recall 270,000 Prius hybrid vehicles over brake problems in the United States and Japan. The recall would affect the new Prius hybrid moZdel, and Toyota would soon notify Japan's transportation ministry and the U.S. Transportation Department, said a report not confirmed by the company but published in Nihon Keizai, Japan's top business newspaper. An official at Japan's transport ministry said the government had yet to receive a recall notice from the carmaker.
The newspaper also reported, and a Toyota spokeswoman confirmed, that the company is investigating possible brake problems with its luxury Lexus hybrid, which uses the same braking system as the Prius.
People are also reading…
Toyota has not received any complaints about the Lexus HS250h and the probe is to ensure safety, spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said.
Some owners of the 2010 Prius have reported their brakes do not always engage immediately when they press the brake pedal, or that the brakes have an inconsistent feel. At highway speeds, a car can travel nearly 100 feet in just one second.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would assess the scope of the problem and the safety risk to the cars that could be affected.
Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman in Japan, said the time lag drivers feel before brakes engage stems from the two systems in a gas-electric hybrid - the gasoline engine and the electric motor. The brakes work if the driver keeps pushing the pedal, he said.
FORD HAS TROUBLE, TOO
Separately, Ford Motor Co. plans to fix 17,600 Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion gas-electric hybrids because of a software problem that can give drivers the impression that the brakes have failed. Ford said the problem occurs in transition between two braking systems, and at no time are drivers without brakes, The Associated Press reported.
Other Toyota news:
• The cost of its series of massive recalls will reach about $2 billion, including both expenses and lost sales, the Japanese automaker told investors Thursday, according to The Los Angeles Times.
• A lawsuit filed Thursday against Toyota Motor Corp. says the death of a California woman could have been prevented if her car had a brake override system.
The suit was filed in Los Angeles for the family of Noriko Uno, who was killed in August in San Bernardino County when her 2006 Camry suddenly accelerated on a residential street despite her attempts to stop.
The suit claims product liability and negligence. A spokesman for Toyota said the company would not comment on pending litigation.
