FIRE! Toyota Prius Recall Makes Us Think It's Just Jealous of Tesla

A little less than 200K Toyota Prius cars are being recalled in the U.S. for risk of FIRE! Out of fairness to Tesla we are doing our level best to make the most of this story. In the past readers of Torque News and other publications were kind enough to point out that the media never covers gasoline-fueled vehicle fires. While we disagree with that accusation (here's why) we value our readers' input and wanted to be sure that we didn't miss this opportunity to do a story on the world's top-selling green car and also mention FIRE!

We don't have any great Prius car fire videos for you. As far as we can tell from the recall information there haven't actually been any. The recall covers 2016-2018 model year Prius cars.

Here is the information on the recall, supplied by Toyota:
"The subject vehicles have an engine wire harness which is connected to the hybrid vehicle Power Control Unit. A portion of the wire harness could contact the cover at this connection and wear over time, causing an electrical short circuit, which can generate heat. If sufficient heat is generated, there is an increased risk of a vehicle fire. For all involved vehicles, Toyota dealers will check the engine wire harness assembly. If a wire core is exposed, the engine wire harness assembly will be replaced with a new one that includes a protective sleeve. If a wire core is not exposed, protective tape will be installed on the engine wire harness assembly."

Like every NHTSA recall ever, nobody who owns an affected vehicle will be charged a penny. Also like every other recall ever, the law requires that the automaker inform owners by snail mail. Why wait? Check your vehicle right here right now to see if it one of the Prius cars included in the campaign. You can check any vehicle here. It does not need to be a Prius.

Toyota's CEO will soon take to Twitter to rant and rave against this recall calling it unfair and pointing out that other cars catch fire too. Sorry, we are just kidding. Only one automaker does that. Here are some unrelated green car recall stories you might enjoy:

Elon Musk declares "no recall" over Tesla fires
Update - Feds investigate Tesla Fires - Tesla reverses recall decision over Model S fires
Musk - Model S underbody shield would have prevented fire even in violent Mexico crash
Actor Tweets About Burning Tesla Model S - How Does The Response Compare To Her Other Recent Tweets?