Japan carmakers to recall 3.4m cars over airbag defect
Japan carmakers to recall 3.4m cars over airbag defect
Japan's top four carmakers are recalling a total of 3.4 million cars over a defect in passenger airbags.
Toyota, which is recalling 1.73 million cars, said the vehicles had a defective part which "could cause the airbag inflator to rupture and deploy the airbag abnormally in a crash".
Honda Motors is recalling 1.13 million cars, while 480,000 of Nissan's and 45,000 Mazda cars are affected.
Tens of thousands of vehicles are being recalled in the UK.
Toyota is recalling 76,000 UK-bought vehicles, Honda is calling back 15,400 and Nissan said almost 60,000 UK-sold models were involved.
UK models affected include Toyota's Corolla and Yaris, Honda's Civic, CRV and FRV models, and Nissan's X-Trail, Patrol, Almera, and Navara.
The cars were sold in the years 2000-04, and the firms said the defective part was supplied by parts maker Takata Corp.
Shares in Takata fell 9% to 1,819 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Free replacement
Ryo Sakai, a spokesperson for Toyota, told the BBC that the firm had received reports of five separate incidents of the airbag inflator being ruptured.
Two of these incidents took place in Japan and three in the US, Mr Sakai said.
However, he added that there had been no injuries as a result of the incidents.
Meanwhile, Honda, Nissan and Mazda said that there had been no incidents involving their cars.
All four carmakers have said that they will replace the defective parts for free.
"We are conducting a voluntary safety recall to address this issue and replace the front passenger bag inflator," a spokesperson for Nissan told the BBC.
"We plan to notify the customers over the next 30 days," he added.
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