Prius Has Affected Hybrid Sales Overall, But Future Still Bright
The hybrid-electric vehicle market has taken huge hits across the board with Toyota’s recall of the Prius, with over 311,000 of all Toyotas recalled being a Prius. The Prius was the best-selling hybrid in 2009 and the recall has raised questions of safety in not just Toyota’s hybrids but all hybrids across all manufacturers. The Prius has been recalled not for the sticky accelerator that other vehicles have been called back for but rather a problem with the ABS braking system, which doesn’t stop all that well.
However, the recall of the Prius is only a small bump in the road for hybrid-electric vehicles in the long-term, though it does raise many questions on how the vehicles are assembled and their safety. The automobile transport industry has seen the rise of hybrids and their fall, what with Toyota issuing so many recalls, though overall these problems will be solved and hybrid-electric vehicles are going to be around for quite some time, experts say. The Prius’ main problem is when the vehicle’s braking system switched from regenerative braking to standard, friction-based braking, though this does not define a failure despite the fact that the brakes take several seconds to change, leaving drivers without brakes. Toyota still has yet to find a suitable solution to the problem, though they are working hard on it.