Japanese automakers Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Mazda Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Corp. have recalled close to 5.7 million vehicles due to a defect with air bags made by Takata Corp., increasing the total number of recalled cars affected by the problem to almost 10 million. The new recall came less than two weeks after Toyota Motor Corp. announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles because of the same problem that can cause their air bags to fail to inflate or explode. Last year, more than 3.3 million Toyota, Honda and Nissan vehicles were recalled for the problem and Japanese and U.S. regulators have said they are investigating the defect.
Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled 2.27 million vehicles due to problems with front passenger airbag inflators. The company said that it is notifying owners of vehicles involved in a 2013 safety recall, including 766,300 in the U.S., to replace airbag inflators. The automaker said it had missed some of the affected devices due to incomplete serial numbers from the supplier. The company is notifying those with vehicles involved in a 2013 safety recall, including 766,300 in the U.S., to replace the inflators.
The inflators could cause fires in case of a crash. Reuters is reporting that 650,000 vehicles being recalled are in Japan, with 1.62 million being outside of Japan. The recall involves about 20 Toyota models, including some Corolla compacts and Tundra pickups made in 2003-2004 and 2002-2004 Lexus SC 430 coupes.
The inflators contained improperly made propellant that could cause them to work abnormally, and possibly cause fires, in case of a crash. Of the total number of vehicles affected by the current recall, 650,000 are in Japan and 1.62 million outside Japan. The recall involves about 20 Toyota models, including some Corolla compacts and Tundra pickups made in 2003-2004 and some 2002-2004 Lexus SC 430 coupes.
Honda’s recall on June 23 includes 2 million vehicles manufactured between April 2000 and October 2002, including the Civic, CR-V, Element and Odyssey in North America and the Civic, CR-V, Fit/Jazz and Stream in Europe. The 160,000 recalled Mazda vehicles include model year 2004 to 2008 RX-8, 2003 to 2007 Mazda6, 2006 to 2007 Mazdaspeed6 and 2004 MPV.
Nissan’s recall of 755,000 vehicles includes certain model year 2001 to 2003 Maxima, Pathfinder and Sentra and Infiniti I30/35, QX4 and FX cars. Nissan said the recall supplements last year’s recall to replace Takata front passenger air bag inflators in certain Nissan and Infiniti vehicles.
