Toyota recall to fix pedals

WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 2.17 million vehicles in the United States on Thursday to address accelerator pedals that could become trapped in floor mats or jammed in driver’s side carpeting, prompting federal regulators to close its investigation into the embattled automaker.

The Transportation Department said it had reviewed more than 400,000 pages of Toyota documents to determine whether the scope of the company’s recalls for pedal entrapment was sufficient.

Toyota has now recalled more than 14 million vehicles globally to fix gas pedals and other safety problems since 2009. The company has received intense scrutiny from the government since August 2009, when four people were killed in a high-speed crash involving a Lexus near San Diego.

U.S. regulators largely cleared the company earlier this month, saying that electronic flaws were not to blame for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration that led to hundreds of complaints. Transportation officials tied the problems to mechanical defects.