Incidents of sudden acceleration have become something of an urban myth in the USA.

About 20 years ago, drivers of the Audi 5000S started to report strange happenings with their motors as the cars suddenly developed a mind of their own and accelerated rapidly with no human intervention. There were plenty of reports of cars careening around mall car parks while laden with mothers, children and a boot-full of shopping.

The whole thing became such a big issue – were the cars trying to tell us something? – that there was even a Federal investigation into sudden acceleration as a phenomenon. And the result of that inquiry?

Nothing. It was us humans all along. The investigators found it was "involuntary application" of the pedal to the metal that made the cars behave in this strange manner.

But that's not going to be an excuse that Toyota use in the catastrophe that has just struck – a recall of 180,000 new cars across the UK because of a defective accelerator pedal. The world's biggest car manufacturer says seven models could be affected: the iQ, Aygo, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Avensis and Verso.

Toyota haven't exactly done themselves any favours on this one, particularly in the US, where the concern first arose last year as motorists reported that the the new Lexus, Prius and Camry was suddenly accelerating to speeds topping 100mph.

That's a bit of a worry on the school run, but Toyota dismissed these claims initially, saying it was simply a case of floor mats becoming stuck under the accelerator pedal. This explanation just didn't wash, however, and it quickly became apparent that Toyota had a much more serious problem on its hands.

It ended up recalling 2.3 million cars in the States, though it did issue the advice that acceleration could be remedied by firm application of the brakes. You gotta love 'em.

Toyota responded a bit quicker to sudden acceleration reports in the UK, obviously in light of what happened Stateside, and probably hope that they've managed to control the ensuing bad publicity.

If only they could have blamed it all on an evil plot devised by the cars they've built planning to overthrow mankind. Oh, well.