Toyota Romania recalled 63 Prius hybrid cars to service to fix a bug which could cause the car's propulsion system to shut down. The recall also includes the five Aygo units sold in Romania so far, and aims to fix the welding of the back beam.

During the recall, Toyota will re-program the hybrid system for Prius. The upgrade will take 45 minutes and is free of charge.

Purchase prices for a Toyota Prius in Romania start at EUR 27,000.

Toyota recalled 1.9 million hybrid Prius cars worldwide, to fix the faulty software. There were no incidents in Europe, however, but the car maker decided to upgrade the software as a preventive measure.

In case of Aygo units, checking the back beam takes about half an hour, and repairing it, three and a half hours.

Electric and hybrid cars are not yet very popular in Romania, where gasoline – fueled cars are still the overwhelming majority. But over one million electric cars could be in circulation in 10 to 15 years in Romania, according to experts, who base their estimations on worldwide figures and trends.

There are over 5 million cars registered in Romania, while over 600 million vehicles are in circulation across the world. Only several tens of cars are electric, or hybrid in Romania, while worldwide, this number is of around several millions.

editor@romania-insider.com