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Toyota announces another major recall

Toyota Avensis - 253 to be recalled in Ireland
Toyota Avensis - 253 to be recalled in Ireland

The Toyota Avensis 2.0L and 2.4L petrol-only vehicles are being recalled by the car-maker to replace the fuel pipe and inspect the fuel pump check valve.

The vehicles potentially affected were produced between July 2000 and September 2008.

Toyota Ireland is to recall 253 Avensis vehicles.

In addition, Lexus Ireland is to recall 186 Lexus IS250 petrol vehicles to check the torque on the fuel pressure sensor.

No other Toyota or Lexus models in Ireland are involved.

Toyota Ireland Managing Director David Shannon said there had have been no reports in Ireland involving these issues and the measure was precautionary.

The recalls will see the world's largest carmaker pull 1.28m vehicles in Japan and 421,000 overseas, Toyota and the Japanese Transport Ministry said.

Previously lauded for its vehicles' safety and reliability, a US recall of around 4m vehicles in late 2009 swelled to nearly 9m units by February 2010 for brake and accelerator defects blamed for dozens of accidents.

As criticism mounted of its slow response and bureaucratic inflexibility, Toyota tightened its recall policy and by November last year had pulled nearly 13m vehicles over a range of issues.

'The recall is sizeable and it may further damage Toyota's brand image and put trust in its technology in doubt,' said Tatsuya Mizuno, auto analyst at Mizuno Credit Advisory.

'The timing is bad as Toyota is barely recovering from the previous massive recall.'