There’s probably no need to get into the problems that Toyota has been having lately with a PR nightmare that’s led to the recall of 133,000 Toyota Prius hybrids last month. The Toyota Prius brakes had been shown to cause a momentary loss in breaking power.

What most people don’t know is that 11% of the claims that led to the brake recall also mentioned that the 2010 Toyota Prius cruise control was faulty. Prius drivers complained that the cruise control wouldn’t always shut off after hitting the brake pedal like it should.

Toyota is taking a proactive approach to these latest complaints and is currently looking into them. Their initial assessment, however, is that most of the Prius cruise control complaints were caused by driver confusion over the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, a feature that is only available in the top-rung Prius V trim of the 2010 Prius. Toyota’s explanation may account for some of the complaints but with the Prius V trim only accounting for 8% of the vehicles in the Toyota recall, things don’t quite add up completely.

The new Toyota Prius 2010 is reviewd by MotorWeek Magazine in this video.

The 2010 Toyota Prius is selling well, very well. In fact July of this year saw almost four time as many Prius Hybrids sold in Japan than July of 2008. In the first seven months of 2009, Toyota has sold almost 80,000 Prius Hybrids. Clearly the hybrid vehicle has arrived, but the question now is, can these sorts of sales be sustained by Toyota.

While maintaining consumer demand is one thing, acquiring enough nickel-metal hydride batteries from supplier Panasonic EV Energy Co. Currently, Toyota is receiving enough batteries to produce around a half million Prius Hybrids, but that’s not looking like it will meet up with demand.

According to Toyota senior managing director, Takahiko Ijichi, “The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity.” Yet plans to open a new Toyota plant in Tupelo, Mississippi are still on hold because of the limited battery supply.

According to Panasonic, their production of nickel-metal hydride batteries is increasing and is expected to get up to one million units by this time next year.

An interesting combination of the economic recession in the United States and a perfect storm of contributing factors in Japan has resulted in Japan buying more hybrid vehicles in June than the U.S.

America’s population is more than double that of Japan’s and their GDP is almost five times, yet, in the month of June there were 8,782 Honda Insight hybrids sold and  22,292 Toyota Prius hybrids sold. Those two companies alone accounted for far more sales in Japan than all of the hybrids sold in U.S., which capped out at 26,205.

The dip in American car sales is no surprise, but what is really interesting the spike in Japan that has led to a seven month waiting list just to buy a 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid (pictured above).

It’s mainly a combination of high gas prices in Japan, at $4.50/gallon, and a government tax break that has made all hybrids exempt from purchasing tax.

With five trim levels to be available for the 2010 Toyota Prius it’s not too surprising that there is 50 percent increase in price from the base version to the pimped out top of the line Prius.

The official Prius prices see the base model starting at $21,000 while the top trim starts at $27,270. If you want the best Toyota Prius money can buy it will amount to $32,520.

The most basic trim, the Prius I, has a lower cost than the current generation of basic Prius which is valued at a $1,000 more. This price cut makes it much more of a competitor with the new Honda Insight which will go for $19,800.

The most expensive 2010 trim will be the Prius V with Toyota’s Advanced Technology Package (ATP) which includes: Navigation Package equipment and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Pre-Collision System, Lane Keep Assist and Intelligent Parking Assist. Having all this does have the drawback however, of precluding the solar roof package, which costs $900 less than the ATP.

While upcoming plug-in hybrid electric vehicles like Chevy Volt are boasting a 40 mile electric-only range the 2010 Toyota Prius PHEV is going to only have a 12 mile range.

While 12 miles is a significant dip from the Volt’s expected 40 mile electric range, it also reflects what will be a significant dip in price.

With a large portion of the Volt’s cost going to a battery small, yet powerful enough to get 40 miles on a single charge, you can see how Toyota might be making a wise concession on range for cost; although this obviously remains to be seen.

While the 2010 Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid will be sold sometime next year they will only be available for fleet customers as testing will continue.

According to the Nikkei newspaper in Japan, Toyota is expecting to take 40,000 preorders in Japan for its new 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid, which will be available to consumers in May. Toyota recently set the starting price for the new 2010 model at 2.05 million yen, about $20,750 US dollars. However, US pricing has yet to be announced.

The 2010 Prius boasts a sweet interior, with a futuristic dash and a Lithium Ion battery pack, which is half the size of the existing pack and comes with two or three times the power.

Autobloggreen reports that Toyota sold a total of 73,100 Prius hybrids in all of 2008.

For their part, top competitor Honda sold 18,000 Insight Hybrids, which are priced at $20,470, during the first month on sale. Will the 2010 Prius beat that? Who will win the title of the world’s best-selling hybrid?

Check Out LemonFree.com for hybrid cars for sale.