Toyota Recalls 1.9 Million Prius Hybrid Vehicles Due To Software Flaw

Toyota’s Hybrid Prius has been a very popular vehicle. The Toyota Hybrid Prius is arguably the car that popularised the concept of a Hybrid (half-electric and half-petrol/gas) vehicle. With over 3.5 million of these cars being put on the road since the car’s introduction in 1997 Toyota’s decision to recall more than half of them due to a software issue is a huge deal. Of the 3.5 million sold Toyota is making a global recall of 1.9 million vehicles of which 713,000 are in North America. The recall is over a software issue that could affect cars made between March 2009 and February 2014.

According to Engadget the glitch can cause part of the car’s hybrid system to overheat and/or malfunction. That should only put the car into failsafe mode where it can still be driven with reduced engine power but apparently in some cases the car shuts down entirely and is unusable. The bug has existed since 2011 when it was first reported but for some reason it has taken this long to provoke action from Toyota, apparently no accidents have yet been caused by the issue.

To check if your Toyota Hybrid Prius is affected you can do so here. Apparently the software fix/update process takes under an hour and can be done at your nearest Toyota dealership.

Image courtesy of Toyota