Toyota to recall Prius in U.S.

TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Toyota Motor Corp. is to recall its 2010 Prius model in the United States over fault with brakes, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

A Toyota Prius vehicle is pictured parked at a dealership in Crissier near  Lausanne February 7, 2010. Toyota, which has recalled more than 8 million  vehicles around the world for problems with unintended acceleration, has  decided to recall its new Prius hybrid in Japan to fix a braking software  glitch, a dealer said Sunday. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The automaker said last week that it would start recalling the same model in Japan from early this week.

The brake problem is thought to affect about 270,000 Prius that were sold in the U.S. and Japan starting last May, including 100, 000 units in the U.S. A further 40,000 have been sold in around 60 other countries.

Toyota blames a software glitch for the brake problem.

When the recall is carried out, a Toyota user can bring the Prius to a nearby dealer where the problems can be fixed by improving the software for the antilock brake system. The procedure itself is expected to take up to around two hours, the Kyodo report said.

Toyota is also considering if there is a need for recall of other hybrid models, such as the luxury Lexus HS250h sedan and the hybrid-only Sai compact sedan, which install a similar brake system as the Prius, according to the report.

Toyota has already recalled about 8 million vehicles with faulty accelerator pedals. Toyota president Akio Toyoda has publicly apologized for the massive recall.

Toyota is likely to see a huge dent in its sales in the wake of the recall as customers question the reliability of the cars.