Toyota suffers second safety crisis over brakes fault in Prius

ONE of the largest car manufacturers in the world is facing its second safety crisis within a matter of days after serious brake faults were uncovered in the firm’s flagship hybrid model.

Toyota Ireland last night said a series of design problems have been identified in the 2009 Prius, the most popular petrol-electric hybrid model on the global market.

While no incidents have been reported in Ireland, 58 of the vehicles are being driven on Irish roads.

The fault is understood to be linked to the anti-lock brake system, but has not shown up in cars sold since the end of January.

More than 180 complaints about braking problems in the Prius have been reported in the US and Japan.

Toyota Ireland said they had received no reports regarding brake performance from owners or dealers “with whom we are in daily contact”.

“As part of our focus on customer relations we will make contact with these customers to check whether or not they have any issues,” a spokesperson said. Should any driver of this latest generation Prius model have a concern or query they can contact us on our help-line of 01 4190222,” he added.

The latest crisis to hit the global car-maker came a week after serious faults in the accelerator pedal in a series of Toyota vehicles built between 2005 and 2009 were identified.

The initial problem led to calls for 4.5 million cars to be recalled for vital repairs, 26,000 of which are in Ireland.

While the issue only became public knowledge last week, Toyota officials in the US have confirmed they were aware of the problem nine months ago.

Customers affected will be able to avail of free-of-charge repair work which will begin within the next nine days.

French car firm PSA, which makes the Peugeot 107 and the Citroen C1, is facing similar difficulties as it used the same factory in the Czech Republic for their products.

However, while PSA is recalling 97,000 vehicles globally, the 600 Irish-based Peugeot 107s are unaffected as they are part of a different production batch, with just two Citroen’s needing examination in this country.

Universal Honda has also confirmed up to 3,000 Jazz “super mini” cars produced between 2002 and 2009 will need to be inspected because of fears an electrical switch in the driver’s window could short-circuit and catch fire if liquids are spilled on it.

A total of 11 customers have reported concerns over the accelerator fault in their Toyota cars in Ireland, with one Honda driver reporting smoke began billowing from his window last autumn.

* See tomorrow’s Irish Examiner for comprehensive analysis of the faults affecting thousands of Irish drivers