If you’re driving a Toyota car then you might want to check your vehicle! It has been reported by Bloomberg just today (September 5) that Toyota Motor has released a statement where they are planning on recalling more than a million of its Prius and C-HR compact crossover vehicles globally.
Source: Straits Times
This is because a part of the electrical system in the vehicles are faulty and could potentially cause a fire in the engine. There are approximately 1.03 million vehicles that are affected worldwide with 554,000 of them in Japan and about 192,000 in the US, Jean-Yves Jault, a company spokesman said.
The fault in the system was caused when the vehicles were assembled at factories in Japan. According to WSJ, the statement said that wires going to the hybrid power-control unit could be worn down over time which “exposes the core wire, potentially causing an electrical short to occur between the damaged wires.” This can lead to a short circuit or fire!
Source: Yandex
Source: Auto Prove
This recall affects every one of the Prius in its current generation, Prius Prime plug-in hybrids and hybrid gas-electric versions of the C-HRs made until May 2018. Currently, no injuries have been reported but there was one case of a vehicle emitting smoke caused by the same defect.
We have reached out to Toyota Malaysia for their comment on this recall but at the time of writing, they have not issued any official statement yet.
[7/9/2018 UPDATE]:
Toyota Malaysia has replied to us and said that this recall does not affect the Malaysian market. They told us, “The Toyota C-HR indicated is the hybrid variant, and the Toyota Prius mentioned is the latest version, which is not available in the Malaysian market yet.” Phew!
Drive safe, everyone!
Also read: M’sian Killed Because Previous Car Owner Ignored Honda’s Defective Airbag Recall
