Toyotas

Approximately 450,000 Toyota Tundras were recalled Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Toyota).

Toyota issued safety recalls Wednesday of approximately 681,500 vehicles in North America. The voluntary recalls affect the Venza, Camry and Tacoma models. The recall comes at a time when the Japanese company is defending whether it acted properly in its recalls of millions of vehicles in late 2009 and 2010 for sudden acceleration.

In this newest recall, Toyota says that silicon grease may have seeped into a switch that would cause numerous complications and trigger warning lights. In the Tacoma, the problem could also lead to airbags failing to inflate during a crash.

Approximately 495,000 Tacomas built between 2005 and 2009 are included in the recall. The company said that friction between the spiral cable and the steering wheel assembly could, over time, prevent airbags from deploying.

Approximately 70,500 Camrys and 116,000 Venzas are covered by the recall. Toyota said that the grease may have entered the stop-lam switch during assembly, and could cause increased electrical resistance, which could produce warning lights or prevent the transmission from being shifted from park.

The Venzas affected were built between 2009 and 2011. The Camrys were built in 2009. Owners will receive notification in the mail about the recall, and get a second notice once replacement parts are available at dealerships. Toyota says it is not aware of any accidents or injuries caused by the problems.

The timing is tough for Toyota. Both the Huffington Post, part of AOL Inc., and CNN have done recent investigations into whether the Japanese auto making giant acted properly with regard to millions of vehicles ultimately recalled for "sudden acceleration." Toyota has replaced floor-mats that were found to be lodging around the gas pedal. A subsequent investigation by Toyota, The National Academy of Science and the National Highway Safety Administration probing into whether the "sudden acceleration" episodes could be caused by mechanical or electronic faults in the vehicles showed no evidence of causes besides floor-mats and human error.

Toyota has vehemently denied that it has covered up any aspect of investigations that would have otherwise found fault with the vehicles' mechanical or electronic systems.