Toyota announced today it would recall 270,000 of the
popular hybrid car Prius in the U.S. and Japan. The recall
will target the third-generation Prius launched in May 2009.
The recall is due to gas pedals that can get trapped under
floor mats or become stuck on their own and fail to return
to the idle position. Toyota for the first time gave an
estimate of the costs of the global gas-pedal recall. The
$2 billion total represents $1.1 billion for repairs and $770
million to $880 million in lost sales. Toyota is expecting to
lose 100,000 in vehicle sales because of the recall fallout
with an estimated 80,000 of them in North America.
