Toyota to recall 6.39 million vehicles worldwide

Toyota (AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)

TOKYO: Toyota on Wednesday said it was recalling 6.39 million vehicles worldwide for five different problems, marking another blow for the world's largest automaker whose reputation for quality and safety has been dented in recent years.

"Toyota Motor Corporation announced five recalls involving 26 Toyota models, the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia... since a few models are involved in more than one recall, the total number of vehicles that will be remedied is 6.39 million," the company said in a statement.

Among the problems are a driver's seat defect, steering column problems, and an engine starter glitch that poses a fire risk, the company said.

The vehicles affected include the Corolla sedan, the RAV4 sport utility vehicle and Yaris subcompact.

Toyota said it had received two reports about fires owing to the starter defect, but added that none of the issues had caused any accidents to its knowledge.

The vehicles, produced over the past decade, include 1.08 million in Japan, 2.3 million in North America, about 770,000 in Europe and another 62,000 in China, Toyota said.

In October 2012, Toyota announced a global recall of 7.43 million vehicles, including its popular Camry and Corolla models, over a possible fire risk, while in February it recalled 1.9 million of its signature Prius hybrid cars.

Last month, the Japanese automaker agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle US criminal charges that it lied to safety regulators and the public as it tried to cover up deadly accelerator defects.

Dozens of deaths were blamed on the defects, which caused vehicles to speed out of control and fail to respond to the brake.