Toyota to Recall Prius in Japan for Brakes
Updated at 11:46 p.m. EST
Toyota has filed papers to recall about 223,000 hybrid cars in Japan, including the Prius, for braking problems — the latest in a string of embarrassing safety problems at the world's largest automaker.
Tuesday's recall affects models that went on sale last year. There have been about 200 complaints in Japan and the U.S. about a delay when the brakes were pressed in some conditions.
Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda will hold a news conference at the automaker's Tokyo office later Tuesday to outline details of the braking problem, including plans for a possible recall in the U.S., a company official told The Associated Press.
U.S. safety officials have launched an investigation into problems with the brakes. CBS News has learned the company is now inspecting all of its gas-electric hybrid models for the same problem.
The braking problem for the third-generation remodeled Prius is the latest safety woe for Toyota, which is already trying to fix problems in millions of vehicles recalled for other defects, including a sticky gas pedal.
The automaker has fixed the programming glitch in Prius models that went on sale since last month, but had done nothing yet on the cars sold before then, according to Toyota.
There have been nearly 200 complaints in Japan and the U.S. of drivers experiencing a short delay before the brakes kick in - a problem that can be fixed with a software programming change. The delay doesn't indicate a brake failure.
The problem is suspected in four crashes resulting in two minor injuries, according to data gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is investigating the matter. Toyota says it's cooperating with NHTSA's investigation.
Toyota said its plug-in hybrid is also being recalled, but that is still a largely experimental model for rental and government use in limited numbers, and isn't for mass commercial sale.
The company ran a contrite ad during the Super Bowl declaring that "in recent days, our company hasn't been living up to the standards that you expect from us," reports CBS News correspondent Celia Hatton.
"Right now, everyone is sensitized to any possible defect in any Toyota," Richter told Hatton.
On Wednesday, Congressional hearings will look into when the company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knew something was wrong with Toyota's vehicles.
State Farm Insurance alerted the US government as far back as 2007 about sticking gas pedals that caused sudden, dangerous acceleration. And in Japan the government has begun its own Prius investigation, Hatton reports.
At least 100 drivers of Prius cars in the U.S. have complained to Washington that their antilock brakes seemed to fail momentarily on bumpy roads. Toyota and the Japanese government have also received dozens of complaints in total about brake problems. The U.S. says the problem is suspected in four crashes that caused two minor injuries.
Toyota says a software glitch is behind the problem and says it has already fixed vehicles that went on sale since last month. It has also said that the brakes will work if the driver keeps pushing the pedal.