Toyota has issued a Prius recall covering all 1.9m of its third generation Prius cars sold worldwide. The recall concerns a software glitch in the hybrid system that can cause the car to lose power.
The potential problem is with the hybrid system’s boost converter software. Toyota said that worldwide, there have been no reports of any accidents or injuries relating to this issue. In Europe Toyota has recorded 11 field reports of the issue occurring.
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The software concerned is used to control the boost converter in the Intelligent Power Module, part of the hybrid system’s inverter assembly. The boost converter is required when driving with a high system load, for example when accelerating hard from standstill, Toyota said.
Toyota has identified that the software setting could lead to higher thermal stress occurring in certain insulated-gate bipolar transistors in the boost converter which may lead to them deforming or being damaged. Should this happen, warning lights may be illuminated and the car is likely to switch to “failsafe” operation – it can still be driven, but with reduced power.
In limited cases the hybrid system may shut down, causing the vehicle to stop, Toyota said.
Toyota also confirmed that this issue will not occur in other Toyota hybrid vehicles, as these use different transistor structures and control logic.
Toyota advises that the software update will take about forty minutes to complete.
