The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced the recall of over 400,000 Toyota cars due to alleged problems with unintended acceleration.
According to a statement from the kingdom’s ministry of commerce and industry, 10 models manufactured between 2005 and 2010, would be recalled. The vehicles will be installed with a break override system to “reduce the risk of sudden unintended acceleration without the ability to stop or control it.”
The Agence France-Presse report published on Industry Week said a United States court found in October that the car maker was not to blame for a fatal crash involving claims of unintended acceleration. The case prompted a huge uproar as it caused global recalls and tarnished the company’s reputation for safety.
Last December, Toyota said it had agreed to pay around $1.1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit filed by US vehicle owners who were affected by the series of mass recalls from the automaker. Although the company did not take the blame, it agreed to compensate the owners who said the value of about 16.3 million vehicles took a hit from numerous accidents allegedly caused by Toyota cars speeding out of control in 2009.
According to AFP part of the deal was shouldering the cost of installing a free brake override system in about 2.7 million vehicles. Toyota also provided cash payments to those who sold cars after the recalls or who owned vehicles ineligible for the override system.
