Toyota Prius Recall: 30,790 cars in the UK, 1.9 million worldwide recalled

The third generation Toyota Prius is being recalled to fix a software problem that could cause the Prius to go in to limp-home mode.

Toyota’s hasn’t had a lot of luck with recalls in the last few years, although the latest recall for the Toyota Prius isn’t quite on the scale we’ve seen for previous recalls.

It’s only eight months since the last Toyota Prius recall – which affected around 5,000 Prius models in the UK from 2009 – but this latest recall is a lot more extensive, affecting third generation Prius built from March 2009 to February 2014 and totalling 30,790 cars in the UK and 1.9 million worldwide.

The issue is a problem with the hybrid system’s boost converter software, which is used when the car is under heavy load such as accelerating hard from a standstill.

The current software can allow higher thermal stress in the bi-polar boost converter which could lead to damage.

If that happens, the car will go in to ‘limp home mode’ and you’ll get warning lights flashing up or even a complete shut down of the hybrid system.

Toyota have a fix for the software and are contacting all registered owners of the affected Prius models. If you want to double-check if your car is affected Toyota has a Prius Recall Lookup on their website and you can even give them a call on 0800 138 8744.

It appears that Toyota will also replace the power module if there are deformed or damaged transistors, so it may be worth asking your Toyota dealer if this has been checked when you go to have the software update, an update Toyota say will take around 40 minutes.