Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Toyota to recall Lexus in Japan for steering fasten

Remind may cover 4,500 cars in Japan

* Total may reach 11,500 cars universal
* Toyota pays $16.4 million well in U.S.
* Shares down 1 pct vs Nikkei standard behind 1.6 pct (Adds details and background)

TOKYO, May 19 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's major automaker, said it plans to recall four models of its Lexus luxury car in Japan due to steering problems, its latest move in a sequence of massive recalls.


The recall is likely to cover about 4,500 cars in Japan and the total could reach 11,500 global, Toyota spokeswomen Mieko Iwasaki said on Wednesday.

The models in query were sold in the United States, Europe and China as well as Japan.
The models enclosed by the recall are the LS460 and LS460L, and hybrids LS600h and LS600hL.The move is the most recent in a series of recalls and incidents that have marked Toyota's reputation for quality.

The automaker has recalled other than eight million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2009 and this year, including 6.5 million in the United States, mainly due to complaints about unintended acceleration.

On Tuesday, Toyota paid a $16.4 million fine to settle allegations by U.S. regulators that it was too slow to recall vehicles with imperfect accelerator pedals. [ID:nN18139642]Toyota shares ended dawn trade down 1 percent at 3,495 yen, outperforming the Nikkei average .N225, which fell 1.6 percent. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo and Taiga Uranaka)


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