U.S. regulators launched a preliminary investigation into reported steering problems on the Corolla sedan on Wednesday as Toyota Motor Corp faced questions from U.S. lawmakers on whether it had ignored red flags on safety before a wave of vehicle recalls.

A second recall of Toyota Motor Corp's flagship Corolla model in the United States, this time potentially to address complaints about the steering, would cost very little on paper but risks further damaging its brand.

Toyota Motor Corp braced itself for further damage to its brand on Thursday, as it waited to hear if a U.S. probe into steering complaints would lead to another recall of its flagship Corolla model.

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