Toyota recalls more than 1M vehicles

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TORRANCE, Calif., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Japanese automaker Toyota said it is recalling more than 1 million vehicles due to problems with air bags and an unconnected issue with windshield wipers.

CBS reported Wednesday Toyota is recalling 907,000 vehicles, the bulk of them Corollas, due to the air bag issue and 385,000 Lexus IS luxury cars that have potential problems with the wiper blades.

Toyota has been plagued with recall problems in recent years, including a massive recall due to acceleration control problems in 2009 and 2010 that involved millions of vehicles. In 2012, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showed Toyota recalled 5,330,643 vehicles, by far the most of any major automaker for the year. In December, the NHTSA announced Toyota was given the maximize fine allowed, $17.35 million, for failing to alert regulators of problems with their vehicles in a timely manner.

Also in December, Toyota agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits that claimed the resale value of Toyota vehicles had fallen due to the recalls for acceleration control problems.

The recall announced Wednesday stem from 46 reports the company received concerning problems with air bags that deploy improperly and 25 reports of windshield wipers that, reportedly, become stuck during heavy snowfall.

The air bag issue affects 720,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix model vehicles in the United States, 141,000 in Canada and thousands more in other countries.

The Lexus IS models involved in the recall were manufactured from May 2005 through October 2011. The recall includes 270,000 U.S. vehicles and an additional 17,000 in Canada.

Despite its recall problems, Toyota has passed General Motors to reclaim its spot as the No. 1 seller of automobiles with 9,748 million sold in 2012.