A Toyota Motors logo. The Japanese automakers said that the latest
recalls were part of a wider recall of Takata inflators ordered by
global transport authorities last year. FILE PHOTO | TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA |
AFP
Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday said it
was recalling a total of about 2.9 million vehicles in Japan, China,
Oceania and other regions including its Corolla Axio sedan and RAV4 SUV
crossover due to potentially faulty airbag inflators.
Fuji
Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru cars, Mitsubishi Motors Corp and
truck maker Hino Motors also recalled a total of about 240,000 vehicles
in the domestic market over inflators made by Takata Corp which can
explode after prolonged exposure to hot conditions.
At
least 16 deaths have been linked to exploding Takata inflators, mainly
in the United States, prompting the auto industry's biggest-ever global
recall.
Global transport authorities consider Takata
inflators containing the chemical compound ammonium nitrate to be unsafe
if used without a drying agent, and have ordered all of the about 100
million on the market to be withdrawn.
The Japanese
automakers said that the latest recalls were part of a wider recall of
Takata inflators ordered by global transport authorities last year.
Toyota
said that recalls were issued for about 1.16 million vehicles sold in
Oceania, the Middle East and the automaker's smaller markets, nearly
one-third of total, while about 750,000 vehicles had been recalled in
Japan.
Vehicles sold in North America, Toyota's biggest market, were exempt from the latest recall, it added.
Takata is currently seeking a financial sponsor to help pay for the costs related to the recalls.
Last month, it pleaded guilty to a US felony charge as part of a $1 billion settlement over its faulty inflators
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