Apparently, recall season in the automotive industry has yet to end for 2016. This time, it’s not about airbags or emissions, though. Toyota issued a 340,000 vehicle Prius recall recently. The recall covers a potentially dangerous issue with the cars’ parking brakes.
Apparently, recall season in the automotive industry has yet to end for 2016. This time, it’s not about airbags or emissions, though. Toyota issued a 340,000 vehicle Prius recall recently. The recall covers a potentially dangerous issue with the cars’ parking brakes.
Affected vehicles were produced from August 2015 to October 2016 and include about 94,000 Prii (yes, that is the official plural of Prius) in North America and around 210,000 in Japan. The rest of the recalled Prii are in Australia, Europe and “other regions.” The model years are 2016 and 2017.
The problem? The parking brakes can suddenly fail to work. Drivers who leave the Prii running in a gear other than “Park” while engaging the parking brake could be in for a nasty surprise as they watch their beloved hybrids roll away, possibly causing an accident. Word of advice: Don’t do this! If you have one of these vehicles, just don’t leave it running with the parking brake engaged if you don’t leave the vehicle in “Park.” For that matter, just put it in “Park” until the recall repair is done.
Those with Prii on the recall list will get first-class mail notifications beginning in November. Toyota dealerships will do the repair at no charge to the customer. The repair itself is relatively simple: clips will be installed on top of the brake cable dust boots. This will keep the parking brake from failing to function properly.
The company issued a statement that it’s not received reports of any accidents in Japan. However, the spokesperson did not say whether there were reported accidents in other parts of the world.
Don’t want to wait until November for your notice? Visit http://www.toyota.com/recall and enter your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for up-to-date recall information on Toyota, Scion and Lexus vehicles. If you have further questions, call Toyota Customer Service at 1-800-331-4331 or Lexus Customer Service at 1-800-255-3987.
And remember: Just put your Prii in “Park” until this is fixed. Safety first!
Sources:
Toyota recalls 92,000 Priuses to fix parking brake
Toyota recalls 340,000 Priuses globally to fix parking brake issue
Join the conversation!