Japanese automobile giant Toyota Motor Corporation said on Tuesday it would recall more than 210 000 Land Cruiser Prado sports utility vehicles worldwide, owing to a problem with their rear-axle shafts.
The parts, which could develop cracks because of insufficient tenacity, would be replaced with fortified shafts, the top Japanese motor company said in a statement.
The recalled vehicles were manufactured between April 1996 and January 1999.
Of the total, 107 767 units were sold in Japan in addition to 109 573 others mainly in Europe, Australia and China, Toyota spokesperson Shiori Hashimoto said.
The defect has caused three incidents in which rear wheels were broken, but there had been no injuries, an official at the Ministry of Land and Transport said.
Prado is an offshoot of Toyota’s popular four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser series. More than four million Land Cruisers have been sold worldwide since the first model was launched in 1951, Hashimoto said. — AFP