TOYOTA is recalling around 1,200 of its iQ city car models to modify the software used to manage the vehicle's electric power steering system.

The Japanese company is working with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency to contact registered owners and keepers by letter to advise them of the procedure for taking their car to an authorised Toyota garage for the necessary repair work.

The issue affects certain iQ models produced between September 2008 and last month.

Toyota says that when driving on certain roadside safety side strips or 'rumble strips', signals received by the EPS sensors may be incorrectly interpreted by the control unit, triggering the power steering warning light.

Should this happen, the driver would need to apply extra effort to steer the vehicle.

At present the problem has only been found in very specific circumstances in Japan and the company stresses that no cases have been reported in Europe and that there have not been any accidents.

The repair involves the update or replacement of the EPS control unit software, a job that will take around two hours to complete at no cost to the customer.

Vehicles produced before October 22, but not yet delivered to customers, will be checked and the necessary repair undertaken before delivery.