Toyota Camry recalled in China over brake flaw

Shanghai, April 24 (Gasgoo.com) GAC Toyota (Guangzhou Toyota) started yesterday to recall 259,119 Camry sedans in China to fix faulty brake systems, xinhuanet.com said.

The sedans were made by the joint venture of Toyota Motor and Guangzhou Auto in south China between May 15, 2006 and March 3, 2008, the venture said in a statement. Guangzhou Toyota started selling the Camry cars in China in 2006, priced at about 200,000 ($29,300) to 250,000 yuan.

According to the recall report the company submitted to China's quality watchdog, brakes on the affected Camry vehicles could fail due to a design flaw in the vacuum pump. The pump defect could cause abnormal noises in the use of the brakes and hinder brake-pad function, but the problems were "controllable."

The company is offering its customers a free replacement. The owners of the affected Camry cars can have the pump replaced free of charge at Toyota 4S shops in the cities where they live.

Reportedly, this move is one of the largest recalls of Toyota's cars in China and will cost the Japanese automaker between 800 million and 1.3 billion yuan.