Toyota Lexus recall includes 4,000 in Canada

Toyota has started recalling more than 90,000 of its luxury Lexus and Crown vehicles — 4,000 of them in Canada — because of defective engines, the latest production woe for the Japanese automaker.

The world's No. 1 automaker said it was recalling 91,903 vehicles for flaws in the valve springs, a crucial engine component, that could make the automobile stall while in motion.

Toyota said it was replacing the valve springs in vehicles produced between July 2005 and August 2008. The vehicles include Lexus GS350, GS450h, GS460, IS350, LS460, LS600h, LS600hL and Crown models.

A Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman said recalls in overseas markets will soon follow, totalling about 270,000 vehicles globally. Besides the 4,000 in Canada, that includes 138,000 vehicles in the U.S., 15,000 in Europe, 10,000 in the Middle East, 6,000 in China and 8,000 in other regions.

Toyota woes escalate

The problem affecting its top-of-the-line products comes as Toyota struggles to move on from massive global recalls that started last year. It has already recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles for various problems, including sticking gas pedals, braking software glitches and defective floor mats.

The company was fined a record $16.4 million in the United States for responding too slowly when the recall crisis erupted.

The latest woes come on top of a recall last week for 17,000 Lexus hybrids after testing showed fuel can spill during a rear-end crash. Analysts said Monday's recall did little to instil consumer confidence after Toyota president Akio Toyoda, facing shareholders last month, vowed to improve vehicle quality inspections.

"It is not doing a good job in communicating a message about what exactly it is doing to beef up quality checks," said Shotaro Noguchi, auto analyst with Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. "So it is hard for people to believe Toyota is taking the customers' view as it is promising to do."

The company announced the latest quality problems last week. Some 180,000 of the defective automobiles were sold overseas, 138,000 of them in the United States. No accidents or injuries have been reported because of the defect, and 220 complaints have been reported.

Toyota also faces more than 200 lawsuits in the U.S. tied to accidents involving defective automobiles, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and a drop in its stock value.