Toyota recalls 1.9 mil Prius cars worldwide

TOKYO —Toyota on Wednesday announced a global recall of 1.9 million Prius hybrid cars because of a fault that could cause the vehicle to slow down suddenly, in the latest safety blow to the Japanese auto giant.

The company said it decided on the call-back—the biggest for the eco-friendly vehicle—after the discovery of problems with software used to control a power converter that posed a risk to drivers.

“Because, in the worst case, the car could stop while driving we do consider this a potential safety issue and that’s the reason why we are implementing this recall,” a Tokyo-based company spokesman said.

No accidents have been reported as a result of the defect, the world’s biggest automaker added.

In most cases the defect could set off a vehicle’s warning lights and “probably” cause it to enter “failsafe mode”, in which the car can still be driven but with reduced power, it said.

“It would slow down, eventually to stop,” a spokeswoman added.

Toyota, a leader in the production of environmentally friendly cars, said it was aware of more than 400 cases of the problem, including 300 in Japan and 90 in North America.

The recall covers about 997,000 vehicles in Japan with another 713,000 vehicles in North America. Most of the remainder are in Europe, the Middle East, and China.

- AFP