Toyota is recalling 17,000 units of its 2010 Lexus HS250h hybrid, due to a fuel tank issue. The company will also halt production and sales until a remedy can be found. By conducting the recall, and the halt to production and sales, Toyota is exercising an immediate response and a high degree of caution. The company was criticized earlier this year for a sluggish response to widely publicized issues with runaway acceleration.
The field of hybrid gas-electric vehicles is expected to triple from about 20 today to 60 or more by the middle of this decade. If current trends continue, much of that growth will come in the luxury segment. Is the availability of new hybrids from Lincoln, Mercedes and Lexus worth getting excited about? Yes and no.
Coming at the heels of Toyota’s problems with sticking accelerator pedals, news of potential braking problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius and Lexus HS250h hybrid has raised legitimate concerns among hybrid owners. Yet, media coverage of Toyota’s safety issues may be blurring the lines between a potentially fatal problem with the accelerator pedals and the hybrid braking issues that may largely be based on perception.
New nationwide laws to discourage driving while texting are in the works, but no law will stop the rapidly expanding number of electronic devices and screens from encroaching upon the driving experience. New Lexus hybrids might provide part of the solution.
Toyota is reporting brisk sales of the Lexus HS250h, its new hybrid-only luxury sedan that launched on July 14 in Japan. The company was targeting 500 sales per month, but has already received nearly 9,000 orders. Toyota will nearly triple production of the HS 250h by October.
