Toyota is recalling almost 2,400 hybrid cars in Australia as part of a worldwide program to fix faulty brakes on its hybrid Prius model.
Prius owners in Australia will be contacted in the coming days, as the embattled company pulls 2,378 Priuses that have been sold in Australia since July 2009 off the road.
Worldwide, 400,000 Priuses are being recalled in Japan, the United States and Europe so a software fault with the ABS brakes can be rectified.
The company is now recalling almost 8.7 million vehicles around the world - far more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles following a string of safety concerns.
Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, says he accepts "personal responsibility" for the recalls, and has vowed to rebuild confidence in the company.
Owners of Priuses built between April 2009 and January this year will be contacted by mail to arrange no-cost repairs - which Toyota says will take one hour.
Drivers have complained about inconsistent brake feel when stopping over pot holes, bumpy or slippery road surfaces.
'Sticky' accelerator pedals
Toyota - the world's biggest car maker - is facing a public relations nightmare as Prius owners in the United States take legal action against the Japanese manufacturer.
Priuses with sticky accelerator pedals are also being recalled in North America, Europe and China but Australian market models are not affected.
In an article for the Washington Post, Toyoda said: "I take personal responsibility. That is why I am personally leading the effort to restore trust in our word and in our product.
"We are taking responsibility for our mistakes, learning from them and acting immediately to address the concerns of consumers and independent government regulators.
"I have launched a top-to-bottom review of our global operations to ensure that problems of this magnitude do not happen again and that we not only meet but exceed the high safety standards that have defined our long history," Toyoda said.
US President Barack Obama's administration has vowed to hold the company to its pledge.
"When I spoke with Toyota President Akio Toyoda last week, he assured me that his company takes US safety concerns very seriously," Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary RayLaHood said in a statement.
"The US DOT will remain in constant communication with Toyota to hold them to that promise."
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