When it rains, it pours, and for Toyota, it's been a torrential downpour the past couple of weeks.

Today, the Japanese automaker confirmed what had been suspected earlier - its popular Prius is being recalled - 437,000 of them as a matter of fact. The new recall also includes 133,000 Prius in the U.S. and 14,500 Lexus HS250h vehicles

Ouch! That brings to total of recalled Toyotas to 8.5 MILLION!

Excerpts from the AP report:

Akio Toyoda, the president if Toyota, has been criticized for being largely invisible during the two weeks after the company announced Jan. 21 the gas pedal recall in the U.S., Europe and China.

He apologized at his first public press conference last Friday, but was criticized by the Japanese media for failing to outline concrete steps to tackle the safety crisis and reassure customers around the world.

Analysts said fears of an even bigger consumer backlash prodded Toyota into recalling the Prius.

“If they hadn’t done the recalls, their image would have suffered even more,” said Ryoichi Saito, auto analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo.

The Japanese transport ministry rapped Toyota as reacting too slowly, and said he was meeting U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos Wednesday to exchange views about Toyota’s recalls and make sure U.S.-Japan relations remained on good terms.