The world's biggest carmaker Toyota is recalling 7.43 million vehicles worldwide due to a defective window switch. It is the largest recall since over 12 million vehicles including the Lexus were found to have faulty accelerator pedals in 2009 and 2010.

Fourteen models manufactured between July 2005 and May 2010 are subject to the latest recall, including the Camry and Corolla. Some of the cars have a malfunctioning power window switch on the driver's side, where lubricant has not been properly applied in the assembly process. There have been no reports of accidents associated with the problem, the Japanese company said.

The number of affected cars is the highest in the U.S. at 2.47 million unit, followed by China (1.4 million), Europe (1.39 million), Australia and Southeast Asia (650,000), and Japan (460,000).

Most of them were made in China, Toyota Korea said. Models imported to Korea were made in Japan, so the recall does not affect them.

The recall is bad news for Toyota, which only just reclaimed its position as the world’s No. 1 automaker in the first half of this year in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2011.

Due to the massive recall in 2009, Toyota's sales fell 17.2 percent compared to its heyday in 2007. It looked set to recover in 2010, but the earthquake destroyed production facilities and sales dropped to the level of 2009. GM and Volkswagen pushed Totyota into third place.