Toyota says had complaints on new Prius brakes

A staff at a Toyota Motor Corp showroom cleans a third-generation Prius in Tokyo February 3, 2010. Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday its North American and Japanese dealers had received several dozen complaints over what drivers characterised as insufficient braking on the new Prius hybrid when driving over bumpy or frozen roads.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday its North American and Japanese dealers had received several dozen complaints concerning what drivers characterized as insufficient braking on its new Prius hybrid car when driving over bumpy or frozen roads.

Toyota received the first reports of the Prius complaints last December, a spokeswoman in Tokyo said, adding that it was investigating the issue. She said there had been no reports to Toyota about any accidents related to the matter.

The third-generation Prius has become a core volume-seller for the world's biggest automaker, and is now Japan's top-selling model. Including second-generation models, Toyota sold 404,000 Prius cars globally last year.

In Europe, where the automaker has sold 29,000 new generation Prius cars since its launch last summer, Toyota Motor Europe has not had any complaints, a spokeswoman for Toyota Motor Europe said.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Additional Reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford)