Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Tuesday that it will conduct a voluntary safety recall on about 51, 000 model year 2011 Tundra pickup trucks to inspect a rear drive shaft which may break.

The Japanese automaker said that the rear drive shaft in an estimated 0.05 percent of the vehicles may include a component ( slip yoke) that could break due to improper casting during the foundry process.

The part was made by a Toyota supplier. Toyota is aware of one drive shaft slip yoke failure in a customer-owned vehicle, and there have been no reports of accidents or injuries.

No other Lexus or Toyota vehicles are involved in this recall, according to the company.

The carmaker will notify owners of the affected vehicles by mail starting in May.

Toyota dealers will be instructed to perform an inspection to identify a specific "production lot" number located on the rear drive shaft. Based upon the inspection results, in a limited number of cases, the rear drive shaft may need to be replaced.

Toyota said the inspection or replacement will be performed free of charge.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet