in other regions are being recalled. On February 14, 2014, Toyota announced a global recall of third generation Prius related to a software fault in the hybrid-control system which might cause the hybrid drive inverter transistors to overheat and cause the car to enter a limited performance mode (i.e. limp home mode) or stall the car entirely. Owners were notified by mail to rectify the problem for free of charge. In October 2018, Toyota issued a worldwide safety recall for about 2.4 million Prius vehicles, including 807,000 U.S. cars. The recall applied to two models - 2010-2014 Prius and 2012-2014 Prius V - that, when experiencing system issues, might fail to enter the fail-safe mode, causing the vehicle to lose power and stall. While power steering and braking should have continued to function, a stall at higher speeds could have increased crash risk. Market and production The Toyota Prius XW30 was built at their Tsutsumi, Japan plant, as well as the Chachoengsao, Thailand plant. At the launch of the XW30, Toyota stated its goal of selling about 400,000 Prius units annually worldwide, and 180,000 units in the U.S. by 2010. As a result, in May 2009 production was increased to 50,000 units per month or 600,000 annual units to help meet higher than projected demand. In early 2010, Toyota considered adding a monthly production of 6,000 at the Motomachi factory, in central Japan, the plant that built the first-generation Prius in 1997. However, as customers' wait time in Japan shortened from eight months at launch to three months, and sales in the United States dropped 40 percent in February 2010 from October 2009 following concerns about Toyota vehicles' safety, Toyota had to reduce the monthly production by 10 percent to 45,000 units a month in March 2010. In China, Toyota originally planned to start producing the third generation Prius in 2010 (through its joint venture FAW-Toyota). However, due to lack of government incentives and worries about losing tech secrets, this plan was delayed to 2011. Asia In Japan, it is reported that Toyota cut the price of the Prius from to to compete with the Honda Insight. The Prius in Japan is equipped with G-Book as of May 18, 2009. The XW30 Prius was awarded the 2009 Japan Car of the Year. In South Korea, Toyota has marketed the Prius since 2014 as a hybrid taxi since Hyundai and Kia