More than 280,000 drivers requested emergency roadside assistance in July, a record high for the reporting month, the Japan Automobile Federation said Monday.
The number of cases covering all forms of assistance reached 287,669 in July, the JAF said, adding that the summer heat is believed to have triggered many of the troubles.
The figure means a call for emergency assistance was placed every 9.3 seconds on average in the month, it said.
The JAF, which provides emergency roadside assistance to both members and nonmembers, said that during summer dead batteries caused by overuse of air conditioners usually account for 25 percent of calls for assistance, followed by vehicle lockouts at 20 percent.
There are also many requests for emergency fuel for cars that ran out of gas while trapped in traffic jams.
The highest number of calls for roadside assistance in a single month was 312,467 for August 1999, according to the JAF.