Aston Martin is recalling more than 17,000 cars - 1,553 in the UK - because of a potentially defective part caused by the possible use of conterfeit plastic.

The luxury car maker said the recall accounted for most of its sports cars built since late 2007.

It was prompted by the discovery that a Chinese sub-supplier was allegedly using counterfeit plastic material in part of the accelerator pedal.

There are fears the pedal arm may break although there have been no reports of any accidents, Aston Martin said.

A spokesman said it would now bring manufacture of the pedal arm back to the UK.

The firm is recalling a total of 17,590 cars including all of its left-hand-drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand-drive models built since May 2012, affecting about 75% of all cars built in those periods.

The recall does not apply to the new Vanquish coupe and Volante models.

"Aston Martin’s situation is not uncommon.

"As supply chains become longer, with greater geographic spread, quality assurance becomes more difficult. Aston Martin is now quickly offering its customers a solution to resolve the issue, and most likely will begin investigations into how the problem could arise in order to avoid similar issues in the future," said Farzad Henareh, director of business development at Stericycle ExpertSolutions.

US-based Stericycle is a trade return and retrieval services provider of pharmaceutical, medial devices, durable goods and consumer goods.