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In a statement, the world’s No.1 auto maker by sales volume said the repair requires 30 minutes of work.

It also said it has begun mailing letters to the owners of recalled vehicles.


“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive, and we are determined to live up to the high standards people have come to expect from Toyota over the past 50 years,” said Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales.

The statements follows word that the company is in talks with Japan’s Transport Ministry on how to tackle separate problems in brakes in its Prius hybrid gasoline-electric cars, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person said that while a recall is one among a range of options being discussed, talks are continuing as Japan’s biggest auto maker by sales seeks to damp growing consumer unease about the reliability of its vehicles amid a separate but continuing recall of over eight million autos globally that could cost it as much as $2 billion.

Earlier Friday Toyota said it’s still investigating reports from some customers over brake problems in its Prius hybrid gasoline-electric model and hasn’t taken any decisions regarding a recall. A spokesman in Tokyo said that Toyota is still “considering what measures should be taken” as it examines reports of complaints one by one.

The comments came after a report in the Nikkei said Japan’s largest auto maker by sales plans to recall about 270,000 Prius vehicles in the U.S. and Japan to fix brake problems. According to auto industry figures, the Prius was Japan’s best-selling vehicle in January for the eighth straight month.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Feb. 4 it has opened a “preliminary evaluation” of the 2010 Prius after receiving 124 complaints from owners about braking problems, including four accidents. NHTSA hasn’t received confirmation of any recall, according to a Department of Transportation official.

Japanese transport ministry officials declined to comment.

While the company’s has issued recalls to fix problems relating to gas pedals and floor mats in the U.S., Europe, China and many other markets, those recalls so far haven’t involved vehicles sold in Japan.

“We have no information on any decision to recall the Prius,” said John Hanson, a Toyota spokesman at the company’s U.S. sales arm in Torrance, Calif. “Right now we are looking at the preliminary evaluation by [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]. We will respond to it and work with them on it.”