Toyota is recalling 436,000 of its hybrid Prius cars because of safety fears. The latest problem to hit the world’s largest auto maker is faulty brakes. This is the second major recall of the past six months for the car giant. In September 2009, it recalled 3.8 million Lexus model cars because of accelerator problems. The Prius is the world's most popular hybrid model. It is extremely popular with celebrities who want to show how green they are. Peter De Lorenzo, an expert on Toyota, told the BBC how painful the recall would be: "The Prius is their shining example of their vision of what we should all be driving. It is everything the new Toyota represents, so for them to have to recall hundreds of thousands of them is a tremendous blow to their image."
Toyota president Akio Toyoda acknowledged the recall was bad news for his company. He said Toyota would do everything in its power to regain the confidence of its customers. He wrote in the Washington Post that he was "deeply disappointed" his cars had not met the high standards expected by customers. "We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority," he said. Mr. Toyoda took his full share of the blame for his company’s troubles, stating: "As the president of Toyota, I take personal responsibility. That is why I am personally leading the effort to restore trust in our word and in our products." The recalls will cost Toyota billions of dollars in repair costs and lost sales.
http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1002/100210-prius_hybrid.html
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