Honda Motor Co. added 4.5 million more vehicles to recalls involving Takata Corp. air bags, expanding preventative measures amid a growing toll of motorists injured or killed by the safety devices.
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The total number of recalled cars with Takata airbags has now risen to about 40.5 million worldwide since 2008. Some inflators have exploded with too much force, spraying shrapnel inside vehicles, regulators have found. The defect has been linked to eight deaths so far.
This latest recall does not affect North America according to a filing by Honda to the Japanese transport ministry and is the first under new President Takahiro Hachigo who took over from Takanobu Ito this month.
A Honda spokesman in Tokyo told AFP news agency on Thursday that the carmaker had found some airbag inflators had “uneven gas density, which we worry could do some harm”.
The case is Nissan’s first known abnormal deployment of a Takata air bag inflator in Japan.
Honda is recalling about 1.63 million cars in Japan alone.
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The Nissan spokesman said the passenger-side air bag inflator deployed abnormally, sending high-temperature fragments into the dashboard and breaking the passenger-side window. Fortunately, there was no passenger in the vehicle and the driver sustained light injuries, still unclear if they were coming from the Takata part.
