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Toyota Motor, the world's second-largest car-maker, recalled more than half a million pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in the US because of a steering fault that may have led to 11 accidents.
Toyota is recalling 533,000 Tundra pickups and Sequoia sport utility vehicles produced at its Indiana factory because a flaw may make them difficult to steer, the company said yesterday. The company sold 2.54 million vehicles in the US last year.
The decision comes six months after the Japanese Government ordered the company to reduce defects, underscoring concern the quality of Toyota's vehicles may be flagging as it closes the sales gap with General Motors.
Toyota opened its sixth North American factory in Texas in November and will open a seventh in Canada next year.
"We expected Toyota's recall problems to be over and it's worrying we are seeing more as the automaker expands overseas," said Yoshihiro Okumura, a general manager at Chiba-gin Asset Management.
The carmaker has won market share from GM and Ford in part because of its reputation for quality.
- BLOOMBERG
