Toyota starts repairs on Prius cars in Japan

TOKYO, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Toyota Motor Corp. began its massive recall of more than 200,000 cars in Japan on Wednesday, first recalling its Prius models.

The car is the first of four models to head to Toyota dealerships for a repair on a fault on its brake system that can cause the car to stop too slowly in slippery or bumpy conditions.

The repairs and inspection should take a total time of 40 minutes. Dealerships started calling owners of the cars on Tuesday afternoon.

Other models, including the Sai and the Lexus HS250h, will be recalled once preparations are done for repairs on those models.

The automaker is in the process of recalling more than 400,000 cars worldwide as questions about the reliability of Toyota have dominated media over the last few months.

The current recall follows similar incidents from last November through January which have seen millions of cars sent back to dealers for repairs.

Toyota has seen its reputation damaged because of the recalls, which it had built over the years for products that were both reliable and good for the environment.

President Akio Toyoda on Tuesday made his second public apology in four days over the crisis, which sent his company's share of the auto market in the United States tumbling in January.

Toyota hopes to have the repairs done on most of the models by the end of May.