Honda, Nissan recall another 500,000 cars over defective Takata air bags

After Toyota Motor Corp, two others - Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co - have widened their global  recalls after an air-bag made by Takata Corp ruptured in a junked car at a Japanese scrapyard, Bloomberg reported.

Honda will recall 400,000 more vehicles that would include the Fit compact, while Nissan would replace air bags in about 152,000 cars including the Presage multi-purpose vehicle, the companies said.

Vehicles added to US safety campaigns are excluded from both the expansions.

The latest recalls would add to the  cars Honda had recalled globally to replace Takata air bags that could be deployed with excessive force, spewing metal parts at motorists.

The company had tapped two alternative air-bag suppliers to make substitute parts after Takata's devices came to be linked to four fatalities in the US and the death of a pregnant woman and her unborn child in Malaysia.

Honda and Nissan's recalls today followed an air-bag rupture in a 2003 Toyota WiLL Cypha that shattered the subcompact's windshield while being dismantled at a scrapyard in Japan's central Gifu prefecture last month, according to a transport ministry official.

According to a Honda spokeswoman the car maker would need to set aside more reserves to pay for the latest recalls, and the voluntary expansion to the rest of the world of a region-specific recall that had been limited to certain hot and humid areas in the US, Reuters reported.

She added it was not possible for her to disclose a specific figure.

US regulators last month ordered Takata to move ahead with a nationwide expansion of its regional recall. Takata however refused, effectively putting the onus for voluntary recalls on the car makers.

Honda said in the event of identification of the cause and if Takata was at fault, it would negotiate a return of some or all of the recall costs from Takata.

According to Nissan its global recall would cover 152,000 cars, including 82,000 in Japan, 49,000 in Europe and 6,000 in China for 2003 and 2004 model-year vehicles. Mitsubishi would recall 304 Lancer sedans in Japan only.

A dozen automakers had by now recalled about 3.05 million vehicles in Japan.

Separately Nissan recalled 250,000 Note, March and Latio cars in Japan to fix faulty side-view mirrors.