Toyota Ireland is set to recall 26,000 automobiles that were sold between February 2005 and November 2009. As part of an ongoing international recall undertaken by Toyota, certain models manufactured during this time period may be susceptible to an accelerator pedal issue.

The models in question are; Aygo (Feb 2005 to August 2009); IQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009); Yaris (Nov 2005 to Sep 2009); Auris (Oct 2006 – Jan 2010); Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009); Verso (Feb 2009 – Jan 2010); Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009); RAV 4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009).

Longford Toyota dealer Paul McNally of McNally Motors is advising customers to wait to hear from their dealer.

"I am expecting to receive chassis numbers this week from Toyota," says Paul. "When I have that then we will be writing out to customers to ask them to come in."

The recall is a direct response to the possibility that the accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in extremely rare instances, become worn. This progressive wear when combined with certain operating and environmental conditions, can cause friction in the mechanism to increase and intermittently result in the accelerator pedal being harder to depress, slow to return or stick in a partially open position.

Toyota's engineers have developed a solution however, that involves reinforcing the accelerator pedal assembly by installing a precision cut steel reinforcement which eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick in rare instances.

Peugeot, under a partnership agreement, shares a factory in the Czech Republic where Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107 and Citroen are manufactured. Peugeot have announced that there are 42 Peugeot 107s that will be recalled as a result of this issue.

The total number of cars that have been affected by the recall world-wide is over 5.3 million. This in turn has had a negative impact on Toyota shares which tumbled by almost 10% as recalls were announced.