Toyota said on July 20 that its U.S. subsidiary had received a subpoena from a federal grand jury in New York to submit documents related to problems with steering relay rods in its vehicles.
"The U.S. Federal Grand Jury of the southern district of New York issued a subpoena on June 29 to our subsidiary for documents related to the malfunctions of steering relay rods," said the world's largest automaker.
"The company and its affiliates will sincerely cooperate with the investigation," Toyota said.
Japan's Jiji Press said the subpoena related to defective steering relay rods that led the company to recall 4Runner SUVs in 2005. But a Toyota spokeswoman in Tokyo said the company had not confirmed details of the probe.
Toyota has pulled about 10 million vehicles worldwide since late last year, mostly due to sudden acceleration problems.
The company aims to improve its recall process following heavy criticism of the way it handled safety issues in the United States blamed for more than 80 deaths.
In February a New York grand jury also subpoenaed documents from Toyota relating to the braking system of the Prius hybrid model.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
