More than 2.69 million vehicles were recalled in China in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 99 percent from the same period last year, China's top quality watchdog said on Thursday.

More than 1.14 million vehicles were recalled after a defect investigation, Chen Xitong, spokesman for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said at a press conference.

Braking system issues topped as the cause of most of the recalls, accounting for more than 687,000 vehicles called back. Defects of the engine resulted in the second most recalls at 620,000 vehicles, and steering system defects came third, resulting in 592,000 recalls.

Joint-venture models saw the largest number of recalls, with a total of 1.94 million vehicles.