Toyota and Honda airbag problem prompts recall

FOUR car manufacturers are to recall around 3.4 million cars after defective airbags were installed in the vehicles.

• Japanese car manufacturers including Toyota and Honda to recall 3.4 million cars after airbag fault found

• Airbag supplier Takata warn faulty safety feature, which may not inflate properly, also poses fire risk

Supplier Takata Corp supplied the faulty safety devices to Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Nissan, as well as two foreign car manufacturers, though the company spokesman declined to identify them.

Airbags in the front passenger seat may not inflate properly due to a fault with the propellant used to inflate the airbag, a Toyota spokesman said.

No deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of what Takata said was an error in the manufacturing process, but the company warned that the faulty propellant was a fire risk.

Estimates issued by Takata say that 2 million cars are using the defective airbags.

Of the four manufacturers, Toyota is worst affected as it is expected to recall 1.73 million vehicles made between November 2000 and March 2004, including 580,000 vehicles in the US and 490,000 vehicles in Europe.

Tokyo-based Takata supplies airbags and seatbelts to major vehicle manufacturers including Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co as well as the Japanese brands.

Toyota will exchange the faulty inflators for new ones, a repair that is expected to take about an hour to two-and-a-half hours for most models.

Honda said it will recalling around 1.14 million vehicles worldwide. Nissan Motor Co said it is recalling about

480,000 vehicles globally, and that there may be more.

Mazda Motor Corp said it is recalling about 45,500 vehicles.