Toyota New Zealand confirmed today that the third generation Toyota Prius, released last year, would be modified to improve brake pedal 'feel'. Previous generations of Prius are not affected.

Paul Carroll, General Manager of After Sales for Toyota New Zealand, said that all 260 third generation Prius owners in New Zealand would be contacted as a priority and asked to contact their local Toyota Dealer to enable updated software to be installed in their vehicle at no charge.

"We'd like to apologise for the inconvenience this may cause our valued Prius customers and thank them for their patience while this issue has been worked through globally.

'While we have not received any negative comments from our New Zealand customers, we are aware that some customers in the USA and Japan have reported a split second delay in pedal response under slippery road conditions when the ABS system activated," says Mr Carroll.

"This software change will eliminate that delay and improve the driving experience for all customers."

Affected Prius owners will receive a letter from Toyota within the next two days advising that the change can be made at Toyota Dealers from the middle of next week.

Mr Carroll says that the updated software will take less than 60 minutes to install and can be done while customers wait.