Japanese car manufacturer Toyota on Wednesday recalled 625,000 hybrid vehicles globally to fix a software defect.
The automaker said that the defect in question might lead to shut down of the hybrid system while the car is being driven. The recall was due to software settings that could result in “higher thermal stress” in parts of a power converter, potentially causing it to become damaged.
“In limited instances, the hybrid system might shut down while the vehicle is being driven, resulting in the loss of power, bringing the vehicle to stop,” the car manufacturer said.
“For all involved vehicles, dealers will update the software for both the motor/generator control ECU and the hybrid control ECU. This remedy will take approximately 30 minutes.”
Owners of the involved vehicles will be notified by first class mail, the company noted. Toyota dealers will update the software for both the motor/generator control ECU and hybrid control ECU in the involved vehicles.
Models affected include the Prius V, which is also sold as the Prius Alpha and Prius+, as well as some Auris hybrid vehicles manufactured between May 2010 and November 2014. In the current recall, about 340,000 vehicles of the total are in Japan, 160,000 in Europe, and 120,000 in North America.
Toyota has confirmed that no reports of crashes or injuries due to the software glitch had been reported. The car maker has sold more than seven million hybrid cars globally since the debut of its Prius hybrid in 1997 in the first mass production of green cars.
Recently, in May, Toyota recalled 2.86 million vehicles covering 24 models globally with production dates ranging from April 2003 to December 2008 amid safety concerns over the faulty air bags, made by Japanese supplier Takata.
