German luxury car maker BMW has recalled 164,000 of its X5 off-road models, because they could have a fault in their brake systems.

The car maker is recalling X5 sports utitility vehicles made between August 1999 and April 2002, a spokesman said.

Last year, BMW recalled 56,000 X5s for the same reasons.

Since its launch in 2000, BMW has built almost 240,000 X5 cars.

The recall is expected to cost the company around 5m euros ($5.4m; £3.3m).

Although BMW said it was not aware of any accidents linked to the problem, the spokesman said the brake hose in some of the models could come loose over the front axle, which could theoretically lead to damage and a loss of brake fluid.

The X5 model has been one of the company's main growth drivers in the American market.