Toyota's sticky accelerator woes are turning into a global nightmare as the world's largest automaker said today that the large-scale recall would spread to Europe while the company revealed that an additional 1.1 million vehicles in the States are being added to last November's recall of 4.3 million vehicles.
The move comes only a few days after the Japanese automaker issued a different recall of 2.3 million Toyota cars and trucks in the United States for the same matter and in a supposedly separate case, but again for sticky accelerators only this time, even without the presence of floor mats, the maker temporarily suspended sales of eight cars in the States.
In what concerns Europe, Toyota said that the models and exact number of potentially affected vehicles is still under investigation.
However, the automaker noted that there is no "need or intention to halt sales production in Europe as a running change in production using different parts has already been implemented model-by-model in the European production."
According to Toyota, there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms in European models may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.
"The details of corrective action and implementation will be communicated directly to customers with vehicles potentially affected," the company said in statement.
As for the expansion of last fall's recall of 4.3 million vehicles in the States by an additional 1.1 million units, the affected vehicles are: 2008-2010 Highlander and 2009-2010 Corollas, Venzas, Matrixes and the Pontiac Vibe, which was jointly developed by Toyota and GM.
