30 Jan 2010

Toyota recalls more cars over accelerator fault

12:02 pm on 30 January 2010

Toyota is recalling up to 1.8 million cars across Europe because of an accelerator problem.

The carmaker says it will recall eight models including the Yaris, the Corolla and the RAV4 sports utility vehicle, the BBC reports.

Last week it recalled 2.3 million US cars with faulty pedals, and on Thursday it announced it was recalling 1.1 million more cars in the US, a day after suspending sales of eight popular US models.

Toyota then widened the recall to Europe and China.

The recall centered around complaints that accelerator pedals can become stuck after a period of wear.

The eight models recalled are the AYGO, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis and RAV4 and cover manufacturing dates going back to February 2005. The recall does not affect Lexus models.

Toyota said it was not aware of any accidents resulting from the issue and that only a limited number of incidents involving accelerator pedals had been reported in Europe.

Separately, Ford said it would be suspending production of a van made and sold in China that has an accelerator pedal made by the same firm at the centre of Toyota's investigations.

However, Ford said it had only been using the pedal in the Transit Classic model since December, with only 1,663 vehicles produced.