Thousands of Toyotas recalled
Car giant Toyota has ordered a recall of more than 180,000 British cars due to defective accelerator pedals.
Affected cars will need to be taken to dealers to be fixed after the Japanese giant revealed seven models of car could be faulty.
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Toyota
It is investigating separate reports in Japan and the US of faulty brakes on its Prius hybrid car.
Toyota is the world's biggest car maker, with around 1.6 million of its cars on UK roads.
It says it is writing to 180,865 UK drivers warning them to arrange repairs after a potential problem with sticking or jamming accelerator pedals was identified.
The Recalled models are:
February 2005-August 2009 AYGO
November 2008-November 2009 iQ
November 2005-September 2009 Yaris
October 2006-5 January 2010 Auris
October 2006-December 2009 Corolla
February 2009-5 Jan 2010 Verso
November 2008-December 2009 Avensis
The parts needed to repair the cars will not arrive in the UK until next week, with the first repairs scheduled for February 10.
Toyota says the process - which should only be carried out by its dealers - takes around half an hour.
A spokesman for Toyota said no new cars are affected, and dealerships are still taking orders on all models.
The company has confirmed there have been dozens of complaints in the US and Japan over brake problems in the Prius hybrid car, but none has been reported in the UK.
Toyota is recalling up to 1.8 million cars across Europe over the problem with accelerator pedals.
Toyota's UK spokesman Scott Brownlee denied that the firm had delayed the accelerator pedal recall in the UK.
Toyota said anyone in the UK who had suffered a problem with their accelerator pedal should call the company's hotline and should not get the problem fixed independently.
The hotline is 0800 1388 744.
Have you been affected by the Toyota recall? Leave your comments using the form below.
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by TeaInEveshamRoad, Cheltenham
Thursday, February 04 2010, 11:12PM
“The car in front is a Toyota......... so is the car up your backside with a faulty accelerator!”
by C, Glos
Thursday, February 04 2010, 9:37PM
“I believe that most of the cases in the USA took place on major highways whilst at speed and in cruise mode. It wouldn't be wise to switch the ignition off as all power to ABS and traction control would be lost. Some advice i heard many years ago after someone experienced a similar problem with a Suzuki jeep was to depress the clutch and hold down and violently pump the accelerator several times until the revs decrease and then let the car gradually roll to a lesser speed until control can be regained. With Auto boxes set the position to neutral and very gently apply the hand brake until it starts to bite but to not apply fully as this could burn out the gearbox and cause fire or loss of control. It's easier said than done when in those situations and panic takes over.”
by Me, Cheltenham
Thursday, February 04 2010, 5:39PM
“I had this with a BMW 330d. With over 200bhp and a huge amount of torque, this is a scary scenario to put yourselves in. In my case, you can be driving along normally, then the car will go to full throttle. Standing on the brakes worked, but whilst doing this, you need to find a safe place to pull over whilst the car is trying to accelerate and whilst you're braking hard. When I pulled in, I put it in neutral and the car kept bouncing off the rev limited. I took the key out of the ignition - guess what? the car kept going. BMW said it was just one of those things and dismissed it. It took 3 months to put right by the dealer :(”
by Anthony, Cheltenham
Thursday, February 04 2010, 3:45PM
“Anon, I would not advise that ... you will lose all power to the steering and brakes (if power assisted) and your streering lock may engage leaving you unable to steer. Thankfully your blushes are spared by the use of 'Anon'.”
by Anthony, Cheltenham
Thursday, February 04 2010, 3:44PM
“a, driver ...... whilst not flat out, I have moved my auto' lever 1 notch forward to neutral yes. It was easy. Yes you may be panicing because your car is accelerating, but it only takes half a second of clarity to either move the lever forward to neutral in an auto or depress the clutch and put the manual transmission into neutral.”
by anon, glos
Thursday, February 04 2010, 3:10PM
“or turn key to off”
by a, driver
Thursday, February 04 2010, 1:52PM
“Anthony, Cheltenham - have you tried moving a auto into neutral while driving flat out? just a thought”
by Anthony, Cheltenham
Thursday, February 04 2010, 12:31PM
“Not always .... you would move the gear selector into neutral. Not hard is it.”
by not, always
Thursday, February 04 2010, 12:16PM
“TJS, Stroud - what if it an Auto?”
by Steve, Gloucester
Thursday, February 04 2010, 12:13PM
“Best car I have ever bought this is my 12th car I will always buy Toyota.”