TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling all of the 1.9 million newest-generation Prius vehicles it has sold worldwide because of a programming error that could cause their gas-electric hybrid systems to shut down, the automaker said Wednesday.

Toyota’s decision to issue such a wide-ranging recall, made voluntarily, is a marked change from its approach five years ago, when it resisted cooperating with regulators looking into problems of unintended acceleration in its vehicles.

The recall also underscores the growing complexity of today’s vehicles, which are increasingly laden with technology and electronic systems that can leave them more susceptible to problems, analysts said.

Roughly half of the recalled Priuses are in Japan, while 713,000 are in North America and 130,000 are in Europe, according to Brian Lyons, a Toyota spokesman in Tokyo. He said the company was not aware of any accidents linked to the defect. The Prius is made only in Japan.

Toyota said that problems in software settings on the newest Prius generation — which first went on sale in 2009 — could stress and damage transistors in the hybrid systems. The problems could set off warning lights and prompt the vehicle to power down as part of a fail-safe mode, according to a news release.