Toyota’s vehicle recall expands to Europe and China

The geographic reach and size of possible recall of Toyota Motor's vehicles with defective gas pedals expanded yesterday to Europe and China and most probably Mexico.

Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker is currently examining which European models will be affected according to the production periods and the number of vehicles to be recalled.

Although the company is still determining the size of the recall in Europe, analysts believe that the number of vehicles would be approximately 2 million.

The Chinese quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday that Toyota's RAV4 vehicles made from 19 March 2009 to 25 January 2010 will be recalled.

Toyota, which operates as Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co in China through a joint venture China FAW Group Co, said that it would recall 75,552 RAV4 sport-utility vehicles from 28 February due to a likely flaw in the accelerator pedal.

Toyota, which is the sixth biggest automaker in Mexico, said yesterday that it is determining whether the recalls affecting certain models in the US and other countries are also likely to affect vehicles manufactured in Mexico.