Toyota Recalls Prius And Lexus Hybrids Over Brake Issues

There's been quite a few recalls throughout the past year, and Toyota isn't new to them at all, as today's recall is the company's third major one in under a year. Toyota is recalling 242,000 Prius hybrids, as well as hybrids from the car maker's Lexus division, specifically the HS hybrid. The problem seems to be with the brakes, with drivers reporting that they're having to apply more pressure to the brake pedal in order to stop safely.

The vehicles affected are only those made between March and October 2009, but Toyota says that they've received over 90 complaints from drivers about the issue, and the company says that a flaw allowed nitrogen gas to leak into the brake fluid, reducing the effectiveness of the brakes and requiring drivers to apply much more pressure than usual in order to stop normally. However, there were no reports of accidents or injuries from the problem.

As for location, Toyota says that 117,000 of the recalled vehicles are located in Japan, with 91,000 in North America, and 30,000 in Europe, while the rest are spread around in other regions of the world. To fix the issue, Toyota says that they will be inspecting the brake booster pump assembly in affected hybrids and replacing them if necessary.

One of Toyota's largest recalls occurred back in October when the company recalled nearly 7.5 million vehicles due to a faulty power window switch that was at risk of starting a fire. The very next month, the car company recalled 2.8 million vehicles over issues with the steering and water pump.

More recently, Toyota recalled 1.1 million cars back in January over faulty airbag electronics that could trigger unexpected inflation, and the same issue came up again in April, when Toyota had to recall even more vehicles because of airbag issues. It certainly hasn't been a good year for Toyota as far as recalls are concerned, but hopefully they'll be able to straighten out the kinks sooner rather than later.

VIA: CNN