Toyota is recalling 11,000 Lexus cars in Japan and 46,000 overseas to fix a faulty seat belt part, according to news agency reports.
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A Toyota spokesman in the UK said there are 9,800 affected cars in Europe and 4,000 in the UK.
Reuters said Toyota will replace seat belts in both front seats, which can become jammed inside the holder due to a faulty part – the affected cars are Lexus GS and IS sedans.
No accidents have been reported due to the defect, the report said.
Reuters noted that Toyota has sold 15,000 Lexus GS and IS in Japan since it ushered in the 16-year-old Lexus brand to its home market in August 2005 in what it said is a major step towards taking on top luxury marques everywhere else.
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By GlobalDataIt did not disclose estimated recall costs.
Kyodo News added that the recall of 11,109 vehicles in four models made between July and December was about 70% of the brand’s total sales since its debut in Japan. The measure followed a recall of 14 Lexus cars in late March over air bag defects.
Toyota reportedly said the seatbelts for the driver’s and front passenger’s seats in the GS430, GS350, IS250 and IS350 models may not be pulled out or retracted appropriately due to a defective winding device but the automaker added there is no safety problem regarding their function of restraining the user’s body in the event of a crash.
Toyota received 236 complaints about seatbelts from users between September and last month. The belt’s winding device was developed only for use in Lexus cars.
