Toyota reveals massive recall involving 7.4 million cars, trucks dating to 2005

Toyota has added another massive component to its more than three years of quality control issues by recalling 7.4 million cars and trucks globally for potential fires involving faulty power-window switches and including 2.5 million vehicles sold in the United States.

The recall affects cars made between July 2005 and May 2010, including Camry and Corolla sedans and RAV4 sport-utility vehicles sold in Japan, North America, Europe, China, the Middle East and Oceania.

Japan’s biggest automaker called the  latest recall its largest in history. Toyota globally recalled 7.7 million vehicles in 2009 and 2010 because of faulty floormats, but the automaker categorized that occurrence as a “safety campaign.”Toyota, which said it knows of no accidents or deaths stemming from the faulty parts, blamed sticky power-window control-switch circuitry on the driver’s seat-door panel, which can melt if lubricants are misapplied.

The recall covers 2.5 million cars and light trucks sold in the U.S., including these models: Yaris (2007-2008), RAV4 (2007-2009), Tundra (2007-2009) Camry (2007-2009) Camry Hybrid (2007-2009), Scion xD (2008-2009) Scion xA (2008-2009) Sequoia (2008-2009), Highlander (2008) Highlander Hybrid (2008), Corolla (2009) Matrix (2009).

Toyota it was aware of the latest issue in September 2008, but was unable to determine the cause until now. The recall doesn’t affect vehicles made after 2010 because of production-process changes.