Air Bag Recall Affects 3.4 Million Cars From Several Automakers

Toyota, Honda and Nissan are recalling more than 3 million vehicles globally for an identical problem with air bags on the passenger side whose inflator may burst, sending plastic pieces flying.

There have been no injuries reported.

The recall for air bags made by Japan’s Takata Corp. affects other automakers including non-Japanese manufacturers, Takata spokeswoman Akiko Watanabe said Thursday. She declined to give details.

Toyota is recalling 1.7 million vehicles, with some 580,000 in North America, another 490,000 in Europe and 320,000 in Japan. Affected models include the Corolla, Tundra, Lexus SC, produced between November 2000 and March 2004.

Toyota said it had received five reports of air bag problems, three in the U.S. and two in Japan, but there have been no injuries.

Honda is recalling 1.1 million vehicles. About 680,000 are in North America, 270,000 in Japan and 64,000 in Europe. The models include the Civic, CR-V and Odyssey.

The recall extends to Latin America, China, other Asian nations, the Middle East and Africa.

Nissan. recalled 480,000 vehicles globally, some 137,000 of them in Japan, for the air bag problem.

The problem crept in because of two human errors during production. A worker forgot to turn on the switch for a system weeding out defective products and parts were improperly stored, which exposed them to humidity, according to Honda spokeswoman Akemi Ando.

Also affected under the same recall were the RX-8 and Mazda 6 at Mazda.The Hiroshima-based automaker said 45,000 vehicles were recalled, including 4,000 in Japan. It did not give numbers for other regions, but said recalls will be announced in North America, Europe, China and other nations.

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