Toyota recalls 3.37 million hybrid cars over airbag and fuel emission issues

Toyota recall affects 72,885 vehicles in the UK

Toyota, the Japanese car maker, said it was recalling millions of car worldwide and thousands in the UK over defective airbag concerns and fuel emissions control units.

Toyota and Lexus will conduct a recall involving certain Toyota Prius, Auris and Lexus CT200h models which affects 72,885 vehicles in the UK.

Affected vehicles are equipped with an evaporative fuel emissions control unit, mounted in the fuel tank. A crack could develop in the canister and may expand over time, eventually leading to a fuel leak when the car has a full tank of petrol.

Some 34,135 cars, which may also be affected with the previous issue, could have a small crack in some inflators in the airbags in the driver and passenger sides.

This may expand, causing the airbags to partially inflate and explode.

The incident could lead to an increased risk of injury if the passenger is in the car when that happens, Toyota said.

The company said it had so far not received any report of accidents linked to either of the issues.

The recall of 2.87 million Toyota cars over a possible fault in emission control units on Wednesday, followed a separate announcement on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars also needed airbag repairs.

Both recalls amount to a total of 3.37 million vehicles worldwide.

The recall includes 495,000 cars in the US, and 743,000 in Japan as well as vehicles in Europe and China.

A Toyota spokesman said the airbag inflators in the recall were not produced by Takata.

Shighehisa Takada, Takata’s chief executive officer, said he will resign on Tuesday, bowing to calls for a change as the company deals with the airbag recall scandal.

“I am not clinging to this. My role is to make sure the company does not take a bad turn until there is a passing of the baton,” he told an annual shareholders meeting, where he came under fire for failing to deal more effectively with the crisis.

Takata posted its third annual loss in four years in the past financial year and has seen its shares tumble some 90 per cent since early 2014.

Roughly 100 million of its inflators have been classified as defective due to the possibility that they might explode after prolonged exposure to hot temperatures.

Volkswagen and Daimler recalled 1.5 million vehicle in the US due to the company.

BMW, Ford, Honda, Tesla, Toyota and 12 other automakers were also affected.