If you drive a Prius from the past several years, there’s a distinct chance you’ll have to take it in for service. Autoblog reports that Toyota has begun a safety recall for 752,000 of the vehicles worldwide, 267,000 of them in the US, due to a flaw in the hybrid software for 2013-2015 standard Prius cars and 2014-2017 Prius V models. The machines won’t kick into a failsafe mode “in rare situations” if the hybrid system fails, forcing the gas engine to lose power and stall — a significant problem if you’re on the highway.

The fix will involve a free software update at the dealership, plus an inverter fix if that component failed as a result of the glitch. Drivers will be notified by late August.

The automaker initially discovered the flaw in South Korea in March, when a car refused to stop. A spokespersoni told Consumer Reports the issue was “extremely rare” and required investigation to determine if a recall was necessary. No one was hurt, Hyundai said.

Hyundai’s recall comes months after concerns about the safety of Tesla’s Smart Summon. While the features are different in significant ways, they both serve as reminders that smart parking is still in its relative infancy. It could be a while before you can simply assume your car will park itself with very little intervention.

The amount of wear will vary by vehicle, but it’s apparently worse on Model X SUVs that have had to drive over winter roads salted with calcium or magnesium-based de-icers. In a worst-case scenario, the corrosion can cause the bolts to fracture and break, leading to a loss of power steering.

That said, if you own a Model X, you probably don’t have anything to worry about; the recall is limited to Model X SUVs the automaker manufactured before mid-October 2016. According to Reuters, the recall affects 15,000 vehicles. Tesla says the Model X is still safe to drive. The company is, however, telling owners of Model X cars included in the recall to schedule an appointment with a service center, so that its mechanics can replace any affected bolts and apply a sealant that will protect them against future corrosion. If a car has any broken bolts, Tesla will replace the steering gear for free. We’ve reached out to Tesla for additional details on the recall, and we’ll update this article when the company gets back to us.

This is not the first time road salt may sideline a group of Tesla vehicles. Back in 2018, the company recalled 123,000 Model S EVs so that it could retrofit them with new power steering bolts due to, once again, corrosion caused by calcium and magnesium road salts.

Driver assists can help make our trips much safer, but integrating software decisions into the control of a vehicle could cause serious problems if the system glitches at the wrong time. According to Mazda, a “Incorrect programming” in its Smart Braking System (SBS) can make fourth-generation Mazda3 vehicles to falsely detect an object in their path while driving and automatically apply the brakes while driving. The problem affects 35,390 2019 and 2020 model year cars in the US, but Mazda says it is not aware of any injuries or deaths as a result of the defect.

If the issue occurs, the driver will notice because their car has suddenly stopped, and also as an alarm sounds and a message is displayed on the in-car warning screen. Some Reddit posters report experiencing situations of the system activating while driving with nothing around, and note that while the system can be disabled, it appears to re-enable itself every time the car starts.

We’ve asked Tesla for comment. It previously said that it delivered the May update out of an “abundance of caution” and that its EVs were “10 times less likely” to catch fire than gas-powered cars. Its statement at the time made clear that the software would affect charge and thermal management settings.

The update had been prompted by a Model S bursting into flames in Hong Kong, although there have been multiple seemingly spontaneous fires over the past several years. Much as with the lithium-ion batteries in your mobile devices, there’s a chance that overheating or charging issues could trigger chemical reactions that set the EVs’ batteries ablaze.

There’s no certainty that the NHTSA’s review will lead to a formal investigation or recall request. Nonetheless, the case illustrates the virtues and vices of over-the-air software updates for cars. They can mitigate or eliminate problems that previously would have required a dealership visit, if one was even possible — how many cars can receive brake performance tweaks through a patch? At the same time, there is a concern that car companies might use software to avoid dealing with deep-seated hardware issues.

Apple is recalling a batch of three-prong AC wall plug adapters. The company is aware of six incidents worldwide in which the adapters broke, creating a risk of electrical shock. As a precaution, Apple is allowing customers to exchange the potentially faulty plugs for a new version. It’s not clear, though, just how many devices that could be.