I LIKE TOYOTAS!!! /disclaimer
I posted yesterday that this is not a new problem. They have been “under investigation” since, at least, 2004.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2443808/posts?page=15#15
Again, a disclaimer because I LIKE TOYOTAS!!! (they just haven’t been honest)
The rescuers who cut people out of wrecked cars or even to do bodywork have to be trained on where NOT to cut on a hybrid and how to disable the high voltage circuits (up to 288 volts in a Prius) because of danger of fire or electrocution. I still think of those videos of laptops bursting into flames, times a thousand.