Faulty airbags cause recall of 3.4 million cars

Toyota, Honda and Nissan are recalling more than 3 million vehicles made between November 2000 and March 2004 for faulty airbags from parts supplier Takata, Automotive News reported on Thursday.

So far, 1.73 million Toyotas, 1.14 million Hondas, and 480,000 Nissans are involved in the recall. But the report from Automotive News suggests Takata also supplied other manufacturers with the same airbags.

Improper inflation of front passenger airbags due to a problem with the propellant used in the inflating mechanism is the cause of this recall.

With regard to Toyota vehicles, only five incidents of these airbags malfunctioning have been reported and none resulted in car accidents or injury.

Toyota has released a list of the U.S. vehicles affected by the recall and it includes the Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, Tundra and Lexus SC 430 models manufactured from 2001–2003.

Automotive News said that recalls of this magnitude underscore the risk involved when many manufacturers obtain parts from a single supplier in an effort to reduce costs.

We will keep you posted as new information comes to light.

By Sherrice Gilsbach