In North America, the carmaker is to recall approximately 9,400 2010 Model Year Lexus GX 460 SUVs to update software in the vehicle’s Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system and a further 446 in Canada.

Within Europe, the carmaker has now announced a recall of around 7,500 units of Toyota Land Cruiser 150 Prado and Lexus GX 460, again to reprogramme the VSC software.

Toyota said that the recalled vehicles are safe to drive under normal driving conditions but certain vehicles equipped with the optional Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System may suffer from insufficient activation of the VSC system when the vehicle is driven under certain extreme driving conditions. It stressed that the situation was still controllable and that, to date, there have been no reports of complaints or accidents linked to this issue in Europe.

The affected vehicles in Europe are only left-hand drive versions and no right-hand drive models are affected. Toyota also said that it has investigated its other SUVs, including Toyota RAV4 and Lexus RX 450h, and found no problems.

The latest model recalls bring the total number of vehicles recalled by Toyota worldwide over the last seven months to around 10.5 million. Earlier this week Toyota Motor Corp said it is to pay a record $16.4 million civil fine in the US related to the company’s recall for slow-to-return and sticky accelerator pedals.

The company said: 'We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations. This will allow us to focus on delivering safe, reliable, high-quality vehicles for our customers and responding to consumer feedback with honesty and integrity.'

All customers owning one of the models affected by the latest recalls will be personally notified by Toyota in the coming days.