A massive new recall from Honda of vehicles with Takata air bags today has brought the total recalls for the potentially deadly devices to more than 33 million.
Honda Motor Co. Recalled an additional 4.89 million vehicles around the world for a new type of problem in Takata Corp. Air bag inflators, a day after Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan announced similar recalls. The new wave of recalls adds to what was already one of the largest recalls ever for a defective part.
Honda has been the automaker hardest hit by the recalls. With today's announcement, the air-bag recalls have hit 19.6 million Honda vehicles.
Yesterday, Toyota Motor Corp. And Honda Motor Co. Expanded their Takata-related recalls by 6.5 million vehicles, to take care of the new problem. Toyota's Takata-related recalls have ballooned to 8.1 million. Nissan's have grown to about 4 million.
In the latest problem, a leak can happen while the vehicle is in use, causing a rupture, and the air bag could explode, according to Honda. The earlier recalls were for exploding air bag inflators that stemmed from defects during production of the air bags.
The cause of the defect is not yet pinpointed. Automakers, Takata and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the transport authority in the U.S., are investigating.
No North American vehicles are affected by the latest Honda recall. Some 1.72 million vehicles, for the 2004 through 2008 models years, were recalled in Japan. Other regional breakdowns were not immediately available. No injuries have been reported related to the latest problem, Tokyo-based Honda said.
In the US, NHTSA, which oversees recalls, as well as Takata and the auto industry, have been trying to pinpoint what's causing the inflator problems, which surfaced about a decade ago.
