Toyota says it will recall more than 400,000 hybrid vehicles around the world, including its latest Prius model, plunging deeper into crisis as lawsuits in the United States piled up.
Toyota, facing a barrage of complaints ranging from unintended acceleration to brake failure, is scrambling to reassure drivers it did not sacrifice its legendary safety in its successful drive to be the world's largest automaker.
But in another heavy blow to its brand image, long synonymous with reliability and quality, Toyota recalled its newest Prius as well as its plug-in Prius, Sai sedan and Lexus HS250h worldwide owing to faulty brakes.
"We will tackle the issue with dealers and suppliers," Toyota's president Akio Toyoda said at a press conference.
"Together we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers."
The Toyota family scion, under fire for his handling of the crisis, said he would travel to the United States to explain the safety troubles.
The company is pulling roughly 223,000 hybrid vehicles in Japan and about 147,500 in the United States due to a problem with the anti-lock braking system, in a recall that also extends to Europe and other markets.
Drivers "can experience reduced braking performance resulting in increased braking distance," the automaker said in a statement.
The Prius is the world's most popular hybrid, beloved by Hollywood stars and environmentalists alike, and its troubles are a major setback to Toyota's efforts to stay in pole position in fuel-efficient automobiles.
The company's troubles escalated with a new lawsuit in the United States filed by a California woman who alleges her Prius has severe braking problems which make it dangerous to drive.
Lawyers for the plaintiff are pursuing what is believed to be the first class-action lawsuit over the faulty Prius brakes, which would add to legal trouble facing Toyota over the accelerator problems.
The Japanese maker has said it redesigned the anti-lock braking system for Prius cars produced since last month.
It says a delay occurs when the vehicle switches to the conventional hydraulic brake from regenerative braking, used by hybrids to capture the energy of the car's motion to recharge the battery for its electric motor.
The group has denied it was slow to act on the safety problems.
The company received a report of a sticky accelerator pedal on a Tundra pick-up truck in 2007 but was unable to pinpoint the cause, Jim Lentz, president of Toyota's US sales arm, said in an interview with the website Digg.com.
The accelerator problems have been blamed for several accidents, including one in California in August in which four family members were killed.
Toyota said it had resumed production in North America of several models whose sales were suspended over the accelerator issue.
But it will suspend sales in Japan of the Sai and Lexus HS250h hybrids while it develops a fix for those vehicles.
The brake trouble comes on top of recalls of more than eight million vehicles worldwide due to sticking accelerator pedals that have tarnished the image of the company, which overtook General Motors in 2008 to become world number one.
The recalls affect more than Toyota's entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.
Toyota's North America president, Yoshimi Inaba, is set to testify at a US congressional hearing on Wednesday as part of a wider probe by lawmakers.
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