The recall targets more than 135,000 Toyota Priuses produced from November of last year to this month.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the waterproof performance of the switch used to open the rear seat door from the outside is insufficient, and if it gets exposed to large amounts of water during car washes, internal parts may short out, and in the worst case scenario, the door may open while driving. This means that there is a risk of it opening.
So far, there have been three reports of problems with doors opening while driving at low speeds, but no accidents have occurred.
The Prius is made at the Tsutsumi Plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, but Toyota has already stopped production since the 4th of this month, and says it will stop production until it can secure parts for countermeasures.
Additionally, starting from the 17th, we will take temporary measures to prevent the doors from opening at dealerships nationwide, and once preparations are complete, we will replace the parts free of charge.
Toyota commented, “We deeply apologize for the great deal of worry and inconvenience this has caused to our many customers and stakeholders.”
*In the originally published article, we stated that “new orders in Japan will also be suspended,” but the company has corrected this to “We are continuing to accept orders from customers.”