Recalls of some 3m vehicles have been announced by Honda, Mazda and Nissan to fix possibly defective airbag inflator propellant made in North America by Japan’s Takata Corporation.
This latest recall takes the total number of vehicles recalled over the potential fault to nearly 10m and comes two weeks after Toyota announced a similar recall.
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Honda is recalling 2.03m vehicles, more than half in the US, made between April 2000 and October 2002 [insiders had, a week ago, suggested more than a million – ed].
Mazda is recalling some 160,000 RX-8 and first generation Mazda 6 models while Nissan is recalling 755,000 vehicles worldwide.
Two deaths have been linked to faulty airbags in Hondas, both of which occurred in the US in 2009; the company said it knows of 41 cases of ruptured airbags. Nissan and Mazda said they have received no reports of injuries.
Takata plants in Washington and Mexico are the source of the faulty inflators which are thought to have been exposed to moisture when in storage.
In a statement issued on 20 June, Takata CEO Shigehisa Takada confirmed that the inflators may have been damaged by moisture but also cited humid weather as a possible cause.
“We currently believe the high levels of absolute humidity are important factors and as a result our engineers are analysing the impact that humidity may have on the potential for an inflator malfunction,” he said.
Poor record keeping by the company is also thought to have exacerbated the problem with the destination of some inflators – which were exported to carmakers around the world – slipping thorough the net.
