XW30 Toyota Prius hybrid recalled in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: A special service campaign has been announced by UMWT Motors (also known as UMW Toyota Motor). The manufacturer has decided to update the hybrid software which is present in the third-generation of Toyota Prius, forming the main reason behind the massive recall.

UMWT sold around 6,160 units which are manufactured during 2009 to 2013 period, all of which have been recalled. Earlier, the manufacturer recalled these cars in 2014 too, which makes this an additional treatment.

The organisation has not revealed the exact number of vehicles that are being recalled. However, some sources confirmed that the number is over 2.4 million hybrid units worldwide. This is the number of vehicles produced by the company globally between October 2008 and November 2014.

As per the automaker's words, there is a fault in the hybrid system which can cause loss of power and as a result, the risk of a crash or accidents increases. In the previous recall (2014 and 2015), the official's could not identify it, and it is expected that the problem will be sorted out this time. However, there are no cases of failure reported in Malaysia.

The Toyota Prius 1.8 (2014) comes with a combination of internal combustion (petrol) motor with an electric unit. The 1.8-litre petrol engine can churn out around 98 PS of power at 5,200 rpm along with a peak torque of 142 Nm at 4,000 rpm. Moreover, it is coupled with an electric motor which can produce up to 81 PS of power and 207 Nm of torque. This electric motor is powered by a 1,400 kWh Nickel Metal-Hydride battery.

The company (UMWT) also said that all the vehicles which are affected by the said issue will get an update in the ECU programming without any additional charges. The whole process will take around an hour.