'Shrapnel' airbags: cars recalled

14 May 2015 - 02:06 By Bloomberg, Staff reporter

The safety crisis plaguing carmakers deepened as Japan's three biggest manufacturers said they would recall at least 6.5million more cars because of problems with faulty airbags that send shrapnel flying into passengers. Toyota will recall about 5million cars, involving 35 models. Nissan will call back 1.56 million.Toyota SA is recalling 223000 vehicles - Corolla, RunX and Yaris models made between 2002 and 2007, and Fortuner, Rav4 and Hilux models from 2003 to 2005.Spokesman Clynton Yon said customers could check if their vehicles were affected by either phoning the Toyota call centre or, from Friday, checking the Toyota SA website. Dealers will also contact customers.The latest announcements add to the more than 17million vehicles that 10 carmakers have recalled around the world since 2008 for faulty airbags made by Takata.Honda, the company most affected, with about 14.4 million vehicles recalled to date, is also preparing additional recalls.Six fatalities in Hondas - five in the US and one in Malaysia - have been blamed on Takata airbags. ..

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