Toyota Recall: Brake Design Flaw Hits 242,000 Gas-Electric Vehicles

A Toyota recall has been issued for nearly 242,000 gas-electric hybrid vehicles worldwide. The recall includes the company’s bestselling Prius model.

According to the company, a brake design flaw in the vehicles exists in some Prius’ produced from March through October 2009. The Toyota recall also includes the company’s Lexus HS 250h models produced from June through October 2009.

Toyota Motors spokeswoman Shino Yamada warns that the brake design flaw can cause those vehicles to experience greater stopping distances when applying the brakes.

The Toyota recall involves the brake pressure accumulator, which can crack with fatigue and release nitrogen gas into the brake fluid.

So far, Toyota has already recalled 113,500 Prius vehicles in Japan and 81,750 automobiles in the United States. The company has also recalled 5,030 Lexus HS 250h vehicles.

The Toyota recall can be performed at any licensed dealership. Toyota warns that the new part replacement will take around three hours to complete.

Bad breaks on its vehicles couldn’t come at a worse time for Toyota. The company is still battling bad press for failed braking braking software in 2010. As you may recall, the 2010 issue, which included the recall of 433,000 hybrid vehicles, was also the result of bad technology implemented within the company’s gas-electric hybrid technology.

Gas-electric hybrid vehicles capture energy from the brakes to help supplement the vehicles combustion engine.

To date Toyota Motors has sold more than 5.1 million hybrid vehicles globally. While those sales figures are impressive, the company has now recalled nearly 20 percent of those vehicles since going on sale in 1997.

With no accidents to report, this newest Toyota recall seems to be more on par with other recalls. Yesterday we reported that Ford Motors has recalled more than 465,000 vehicles over a potential fire hazard issue.

No accidents, injuries, or deaths have been reported as a direct result of the brake design flaw which led to the Toyota recall.