Toyota Prius Recall Begins in New Zealand

As expected, the voluntary recall of the Toyota Prius kicked off today, but not globally yet. Toyota's New Zealand office was the first to announce the recall of all the 260 2010 model year Prius, to update the braking system software. Owners will be notified via a letter of the recall, just-auto.com reports, citing Toyota New Zealand's CEO Alistair Davis.

The fault, Davis says, is not dangerous, as the car will stop if the brakes are pressed harder, but the recall is needed to avoid any unwanted problems.

The recall is expected to expand to Japan, US and most of Toyota markets this week. The official announcement regarding the recall is expected the following days.

On Sunday, a Tokyo Toyota dealer told the Financial Times the carmaker informed him of the recall scheduled to be announced on Monday. Toyota confirmed on Friday the Prius is subject to antilock brake system glitches, to which a fix has already been found and implemented in vehicles manufactured starting January this year.

According to NY Daily News, Toyota will recall 300,000 Prius in the US and Japan. In Europe, the recall is expected to be announced by February 10.

"We will make an announcement soon on the action we plan to take," a company spokesman told the Daily Telegraph on Sunday.

Aside for the Prius, Toyota already recalled some 8 million of its vehicles to fix an accelerator two pedal issues.