The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received over one hundred complaints involving the brakes on the 2010 Prius. People complained about momentary loss of braking while traveling over an uneven road surface. Four of the complaints claimed the momentary loss resulted in an accident. Toyota spokeswoman, Martha Voss, said the company had been informed of the agency’s plans to open an investigation and added that “Toyota will cooperate fully”.

Toyota’s manager in charge of quality, Hiroyuki Yokoyama, said the company had identified the problem and corrected the glitch for Priuses sold since late January. He said the company was still considering what actions to take for cars already on the road and had not ruled out a recall.

Mr. Yokoyama told reporters that the new Priuses experienced a slight unresponsiveness of the brakes that he said was easy to resolve by pressing harder on the brake pedal. The problem occurred, because the technologically advanced Prius has two braking systems, and a glitch sometimes prevented the car from transitioning smoothly between the two.