Photo: Toyota
The Toyota Prius is one of the most famous vehicles in the world. Born in late 1997 as the world's first mass-produced hybrid car, it was quickly adopted by celebrities (despite its quirky looks) who wanted to advertise themselves as the promoters of cleaner living.
Since 1997 the automotive world has evolved greatly, and the Prius was overtaken in terms of celebrity levels by other, much cleaner vehicles. But the model is still around, doing the rounds as one of the most reliable cars of its kind.
That reliable part also translates into the Prius not being the subject of many recalls over the years, despite Toyota's habit of being a sort of champion in this respect. And yet here is the model being the star of its own recall action this week.
The Japanese company announced a recall campaign for the hybrid, targeting the brand-new variants built as part of the 2023 and 2024 model years. Both the Prius and the Prius HEV (aka the Prius Prime) are affected, and their number is not small at all: 211,000 vehicles.
As per Toyota, all these cars were sold in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia (meaning, more or less, the world over), and they all may be affected by a sudden rear door opening syndrome.
We don't know everything there is to know about the issue, but the carmaker did give us some clues. It would appear that the cars are sort of leaking, and water can somehow make its way somewhere inside and impact (read short-circuit) the electronic rear door latches.
If that happens the doors will no longer be locked, and that could lead to the possibility of the doors opening while the car is on the move, or perhaps during crashes. Needless to say, that could increase the risk of injury to the people inside the vehicle.
To fix the problem, Toyota has decided to replace the rear door opener on both the left and the right sides with an improved one. As usual in such cases, the fixes will be provided at no cost to the owners.
It will take Toyota some time to get things going – we're told owners should not expect to receive mail notifications before early June – so until then people are instructed "to ensure that the feature that automatically locks the doors when shifting from Park is activated." For some reason Toyota says this piece of advice is particularly applicable to owners in the U.S. and Canada, where 55,000 Priuses from the affected batches can be found.
In North America, Toyota sells the Prius in both hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions. The cheapest one is the regular Prius, which goes for $27,450, while at the opposite end the Prius Prime is selling for $32,975.
That reliable part also translates into the Prius not being the subject of many recalls over the years, despite Toyota's habit of being a sort of champion in this respect. And yet here is the model being the star of its own recall action this week.
The Japanese company announced a recall campaign for the hybrid, targeting the brand-new variants built as part of the 2023 and 2024 model years. Both the Prius and the Prius HEV (aka the Prius Prime) are affected, and their number is not small at all: 211,000 vehicles.
As per Toyota, all these cars were sold in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia (meaning, more or less, the world over), and they all may be affected by a sudden rear door opening syndrome.
We don't know everything there is to know about the issue, but the carmaker did give us some clues. It would appear that the cars are sort of leaking, and water can somehow make its way somewhere inside and impact (read short-circuit) the electronic rear door latches.
If that happens the doors will no longer be locked, and that could lead to the possibility of the doors opening while the car is on the move, or perhaps during crashes. Needless to say, that could increase the risk of injury to the people inside the vehicle.
To fix the problem, Toyota has decided to replace the rear door opener on both the left and the right sides with an improved one. As usual in such cases, the fixes will be provided at no cost to the owners.
It will take Toyota some time to get things going – we're told owners should not expect to receive mail notifications before early June – so until then people are instructed "to ensure that the feature that automatically locks the doors when shifting from Park is activated." For some reason Toyota says this piece of advice is particularly applicable to owners in the U.S. and Canada, where 55,000 Priuses from the affected batches can be found.
In North America, Toyota sells the Prius in both hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions. The cheapest one is the regular Prius, which goes for $27,450, while at the opposite end the Prius Prime is selling for $32,975.
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