Honda to recall nearly 5m more cars over air bag issue

Honda is to recall another 4.8 million cars globally to replace potentially fatal air bag inflators made by Japan's Takata Corp, already at the centre of one of the biggest automotive recalls to date.

The recall comes a day after Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co said they were taking back some 6.5 million vehicles worldwide after investigations showed the Takata airbag inflators were not properly sealed and so could be damaged by moisture.

Honda has so far borne the brunt of the recalls linked to the Takata air bag inflators, which can erupt with too much force, spraying shrapnel inside the car. Six deaths have so far been linked to the defective air bags, all on cars made by Japan’s third-largest automaker.

Toyota and Nissan are recalling thousands of cars in Ireland as part of the recall. The Irish recall involves 27,000 Toyotas and 15,500 Nissans.

Figures for the number of Hondas being recalledin Ireland are not currently available.

For Toyota the recall involves 24,000 Corolla, Yaris and Avensis Verso models built between April 2004 and November 2007 for potential issues with passenger airbags and 3,000 Rav4 and Hi-Lux models built between July 2003 and November 2005 for potential issues with driver airbags.

This is the second recall by Toyota in relation to issues with Takata airbags, the first being in April 2013 involving 26,000 Yaris, Corolla and Avensis models. Owners were contacted and the airbags were replaced.

This time Toyota says that owners will be contacted in writing and asked to bring their cars to a Toyota dealership or authorised service centre for inspection.

Nissan said it is recalling 15,500 cars in Ireland as part of a global recall of about 1.56 million cars over the same issue. The vehicles affected are Patrols, Tinos, Almeras, X-Trails, Terrano and D22 pick-ups built between 2004 and 2006. This follows an recall in 2013 of 14,000 Nissans built between 2001 and 2004 over the same potential airbag problem.

Both Toyota and Nissan said the recalls were for investigative purposes and that no accidents or injuries had been reported.