TOYOTA "RECALLS" 13 TOYOTA PRIUS IN INDONESIA

Jakarta Forum - Jakarta, TOYOTA PRIUS. PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) has recalled 13 Prius sold in Indonesia following Toyota Motor Corporation`s decision to "recall" the hybrid cars.

"We have followed up the TMC`s announcement by visiting the owners of Prius cars in Indonesia to have their cars fixed. We called it a visit call because we came to the owners of the cars whose data are with us," TAM`s president director Johny Darmawan said here on Wednesday.

He said the company would repair the cars by re-programing the software that controls the anti-brake lock system.

He said the decision was taken after the TMC recalled as many as 436,000 units across the world, including Japan totalling 223,000 and North America 150,000.

Johny said since the TAM marketed the car last year in the country no one had ever lodged complaints. However, because the TMC issued the decision the TAM decided to conduct improvement, he said.

"We will carry out the program as quickly as possible. Soon after the announcement was made we had called some consumers mostly in Jakarta as well as in Surabaya and Malang," he said.

He said the software needed to re-program the ant-brake lock system had been made ready in the country so that fixes could be immediately made by the company`s technicians. "It is free of charge," he said.

Asked if the TAM is willing to repay Prius bought through a general importer, Johnny said the company had a moral obligation to repair the cars although they were not bought from the TAM.

"We have a moral obligation to do it and cannot refuse. However we will not come to them. They must come to us because we do not have data about them," he said.

TAM`s marketing director Joko Trisanyoto said the TMC had decided to recall Prius due to a complaint on its brake system.

He said if the brake would not operate fully if the pedal was not pressed maximally, which was because the system received a signal of between charging or braking.

"If the pedal is pressed maximally the brake is fine. After being examined it was found that re-programming is needed on the anti-brake lock system which would take only around an hour," he said.

Source: Antara news