Toyota has issued a global recall of more than six million vehicles because of safety issues.The Japanese company said the recall covers 27 models produced between April 2004 and August 2013, but added no injuries or crashes have been reported.
Faults were also discovered in the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia – models built by Toyota at its California plant for General Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries.
In a statement, it said: “Worldwide, there have been no reports of any accidents or injuries relating to these issues.
“Toyota is conducting the recalls according to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) code of practice.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and concern brought by this recall announcement.”
The recalls include the Corolla, RAV4, Matrix, Yaris, Highlander and Tacoma.
Toyota said some 3.5 million vehicles were being recalled over a fault in a spiral cable that could be damaged when the steering wheel is turned – preventing the air bag from inflating in a crash.
Around half of those vehicles are thought to be in the US.
Other faults include checks on rails that could cause the seat to slide forwards during a crash, and faulty steering column brackets, windshield wiper motors and engine starters.
The company was involved in a series of large-scale recalls in 2009 and 2010, covering problems including sticking accelerator pedals and defective brakes.
Last month, Toyota reached a settlement with the US Justice Department to pay a $1.2bn penalty for hiding information about defects in its cars.
It had earlier paid fines of more than $66m for delays in reporting unintended acceleration problems.
Tokyo-listed shares for the company were down more than 3% on the Nikkei after the recall was announced on Wednesday.
General Motors is under investigation over ignition switch issues which has led to the recall of 1.6 million vehicles.
Chrysler also said last week it was recalling nearly 870,000 sport utility vehicles over a brake fault.
