airbag

There seems to be no end to the Takata airbag recall issue - following the recalls issued by Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Daihatsu over faulty airbag inflators earlier this month, three more automakers have announced that they are adding vehicles to the list.

Mazda, Mitsubishi and Subaru have now expanded the scope of the largest automotive safety recall in history, to the tune of 715,000 vehicles.

Mitsubishi is recalling 512,000 vehicles, of which 100,165 are in Japan and around 412,000 in global markets. The carmaker did not divulge the countries or models that are affected by the global recalls, saying formal notices had not yet been filed.

Mazda, meanwhile, is recalling nearly 112,000 vehicles in Japan, and affected models include the Atenza sedan, Bongo van and two models the company builds for Nissan and Mitsubishi for the domestic market. As for Subaru, it is recalling 91,151 Imprezas in Japan, and reports indicate that 33,548 Impreza models made between 2004 and 2007 are being recalled in Australia.

Last week, it was reported that Takata had acknowledged that a defect exists in its airbag inflators, and had agreed to a national recall in the US of certain types of driver and passenger side airbag inflators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Takata announced that the parts manufacturer's recall on defective airbag inflators was set to expand to nearly 34 million vehicles in the US.

It was also reported that in ballistic testing undertaken by the company of 30,000 inflators taken from recalled vehicles, 265 units of its airbag inflators had ruptured.