Report: Toyota plans new Prius recall

TOKYO, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp. intends to recall more than 300,000 2010 Prius hybrids this week following complaints about brake problems, The New York Times said Sunday.

Citing someone who had been briefed on the decision, the newspaper said the recall would be announced early this week. The report follows a worldwide recall of an estimated 8 million Toyota vehicles because of the possibility accelerator pedals could stick or get hung up in floor mats.

Citing its examination of company records, the newspaper reported Sunday Toyota has often reacted slowly to safety problems, sometimes changing its vehicles without notifying current owners. The reported slow response to problems with gas pedals is part of a pattern in which the automaker has tried to handle problems discreetly and out of the public eye after receiving complaints, making design changes without issuing recalls, the Times said.

With its gas pedal recall, Toyota officials testified to the U.S. Congress they first heard of the pedals sticking to floor mats in spring 2009. But the company later acknowledged it had received such complaints as early as December 2008 and had started installing redesigned pedals on new European vehicles last August, the Times reported.

The newspaper said it took Toyota eight years to start recalling older Hilux Surf cars 4Runners after the company's 1996 move to modify a crucial steering mechanism following consumer complaints.

"We acknowledge that we could have communicated better as a company," James Wiseman, a spokesman for Toyota's United States division, told the Times. "However, we have taken significant steps to address these issues."