The Toyota Motor Corporation is to recall 8,500 cars in the UK and all 436,000 of its hybrid vehicles worldwide, including its latest Prius model as it discusses with safety authorities how to resolve the problems with the vehicle’s brakes.

Problems with brakes could have catastrophic results with potentially thousands of road accidents and resulting injuries.

The company said in a statement: “We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority”.

Toyota GB has sought to reassure drivers of the vehicles safety saying that at no time are drivers without brakes. It added that it will write to every Prius driver in the UK over the next few days concerning the recall and says that the work, to upgrade the anti-lock braking system, will be undertaken free of charge.

The recall comes following driver complaints about a delay before the brakes operate and several warnings that the cars brakes are vulnerable in icy conditions or on uneven road surfaces. The company has blamed the computer system that links the Prius’s two braking systems – one conventional, the other part of the energy-storage technology. Toyota adds that it has already repaired vehicles that have been sold this year.

The Toyota President Akio Toyoda said he was “deeply disappointed” for not maintaining the company’s high standards adding: “We sincerely acknowledge safety concerns from our customers. We have decided to recall as we regard safety for our customers as our foremost priority.

“As the president of Toyota, I take personal responsibility. That is why I am personally leading the effort to restore trust in our word and in our products. We will redouble our commitment to quality as a lifeline of our company. We will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers.”

The recall of the Prius is an escalation of the problems the car manufacturer faces, which last month had to recall 8 million models worldwide due to fears of problems with the accelerator pedals getting caught in floor mats.

The owners of 180,000 Toyota cars in the UK have already been told that there may be faults with their cars. The seven Toyota models which were the subject of the previous recall were the Auris, Avensis, Aygo, Corolla, iQ, Verso and Yaris.

Toyota maintains that the problem with the accelerator is just in isolated cases and that only 26 cases of the pedal sticking have been reported in the whole of Europe. However, lawyers in the United States claim that possibly 19 road accident deaths in the country may have been due to faults with Toyota cars. The first claim in the UK has been made by a driver in the Midlands who is reported to have received head injuries when his Toyota was involved in a car accident crashing into a wall last September.

The Toyota Motor Corporation's recall of the Prius signals a fall from grace for the futuristic model. It became Japan’s best-selling car last year but its complexity has caused problems before. In 2005 Toyota was forced to repair a software glitch that caused the engine to stall and it has also had trouble with headlights going out.