Cars, Toyota Recall | featured news

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it is recalling about 550,000 vehicles worldwide -- mostly in the United States -- for problems that could make it harder to steer.

Toyota has agreed to pay more than $32 million in penalties after two federal investigations that faulted the Japanese automaker for its handling of recent auto recalls, the U.S. Transportation Department announced Monday night.

Toyota is recalling 1.53 million Lexus, Avalon and other models, mostly in the U.S. and Japan, for brake fluid and fuel pump problems, the latest in a string of quality problems for the world's No. 1 automaker.

Among the Toyota recalls are 373,000 2000-4 Avalon models for a steering problem that could cause a crash, and 39,000 2003-7 Lexus LX 470 S.U.V.'s for a steering defect.

It's the kind of publicity any university might dream about: An instructor uncovers a possible flaw that's causing some of the world's most popular cars to accelerate suddenly. His ground-breaking work attracts interest from Congress and reporters worldwide.

Toyota started recalling more than 90,000 luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles Monday in Japan over defective engines - the latest setback for the automaker beset with quality problems.

Toyota Motor Corp. recalled about 50,000 Sequoia sport utility vehicles from the 2003 model year to fix an unexpected slowing of the vehicle in the latest recall issued by the Japanese automaker.

General Motors said Tuesday that United States sales rose 11.5 percent in February over the period a year ago, including a 32.2 percent gain for the four brands it is keeping: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

An internal memo claimed that the company saved millions by negotiating with U.S. regulators on a limited recall of floor mats.

U.S. regulators launched a preliminary investigation into reported steering problems on the Corolla sedan on Wednesday as Toyota Motor Corp faced questions from U.S. lawmakers on whether it had ignored red flags on safety before a wave of vehicle recalls.