The government's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine released a statement Monday that said malfunctioning brakes and broken driveshafts led to accidents that "caused many casualties" in the first half of the year.

The statement did not seek a recall.

"All we know so far is what included in the agency's statement," Liu Peng, Toyota's spokesman in Beijing, said in a telephone interview today. "We are looking into the issue and will try to clarify the facts."

The statement said Toyota models including the Camry sedan, Reiz compact and Land Cruiser SUV were involved in the accidents. The statement also discussed quality-control problems in other industries across China.

China's government is stepping up efforts to control vehicle quality as rising automobile ownership leads to more accidents on the road. Traffic accidents rose 36 percent to 3.9 million cases in 2010, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Automakers recalled 672,989 vehicles in the first half, 628,487 of which were made in China, according to the quality watchdog. Toyota's sales of locally made cars in China fell 15 percent in the first half to 316,191 units, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.