Toyota reputation takes a battering

Toyota has long enjoyed a reputation for selling well-engineered, soundly-constructed, reliable vehicles. It was top of the heap for mass-produced, affordable transportation. Perhaps no more: Toyota recalled some four million vehicles in 2009 and there now appears to be a problem with its highly sophisticated, perhaps too sophisticated, Prius:

A growing number of owners allege that the brakes on the third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius can malfunction unexpectedly, with at least 20 complaints filed so far with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The "fault" appears to be associated with the complex regenerative braking system.