Toyota to recall 1m vehicles for airbag, wiper glitches

CHICAGO -- Toyota Motor Corp will recall 752, 000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the United States and certain Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in Japan, Canada, and Mexico to fix airbags that could be deployed inadvertently.

Separately, Toyota will also recall 385,000 Lexus IS and its series, including 270,000 Lexus IS vehicles in the United States over wiper problems,

Thus, the Japanese automaker will recall a total of 1.3 million cars globally, Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday.

An IC chip in the airbag control unit can malfunction when it receives electrical interference from other parts in the car, causing the airbags to deploy when it is not necessary. The problem has caused minor injuries such as abrasions in 18 cases that have been reported, the newspaper quoted Toyota spokesman Naoto Fuse as saying.

As for Lexus recall, the wiper arm nut of the front wiper in these vehicles may not be tight enough and the wiper may not work under certain weather occasions, including in snow, said Fuse.

This will be the third Toyota recall to involve more than a million cars since October.

The financial impact from the recall is likely to be limited, as Toyota may ask suppliers to compensate.

Toyota is scheduled to publish its October-December earnings results on Feb 5.