Toyota recalls 10,000 C-HR EVs that may lose power, and none of them can update themselves

Toyota is recalling about 10,000 2026 C-HR electric crossovers in North America because a control unit can overcharge the traction battery under regenerative braking and shut the drive system down while driving. The fix is a software update the car cannot receive wirelessly, which European rules would document but not prevent.

Toyota is recalling about 10,000 C-HR electric crossovers in North America because they can cut power while driving, InsideEVs reported. All are 2026 models.

The cause is software in the battery electric vehicle electronic control unit. It can overcharge the traction battery under regenerative braking when the state of charge is already high. Under regenerative braking the motor works as a generator, slowing the car and pushing energy back into the pack.

When a full pack will not take more energy, the safety guardrails shut the drive system down to prevent overcharging.

A software update fixes it. The car cannot receive one wirelessly, so owners have to visit a dealer.

The C-HR runs an older Toyota infotainment stack rather than the newer Arene system, despite arriving alongside the RAV4.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not published the recall documents yet. Toyota’s US electric sales rose 136% in the first half, much of it down to this car.

Europe wrote rules for exactly this, and they do less than most people assume.

Since July 2024 every newly registered vehicle in the EU has needed a certified software update management system, phased in under the same safety reform. The obligation sits inside the General Safety Regulation.

The requirement comes from UN Regulation 156, which covers wired and wireless updates alike, adds conditions when an update goes over the air, and does not require a car to be able to update itself.

What it does require is that a maker can say which software version is on which vehicle, and whether an update changes what the car was approved as.

TNW made a version of this point last month, when Lucid recalled 27,185 Air sedans over a software fuse that left circuits live.

Toyota sells a version of this car in Europe as the C-HR+, and has not said whether European vehicles share the control unit. As announced, the recall covers North America, and no European recall has been announced.

Its last big electric recall went the other way. When bZ4X wheels could come loose in 2022, most of the cars were European.