After a push from federal safety regulators, Mazda has expanded nationwide a recall of potentially defective air bags made by the Japanese supplier Takata.
The automaker Thursday announced that it would broaden a recall of cars with Takata-made driver’s-side air bags to cover 330,000 vehicles. The recall had been limited to certain geographic areas associated with high humidity.
The action follows Honda’s move last week to expand its air bag recall across the nation to include about 5.4 million cars. Overall, more than 16 million vehicles worldwide have been recalled to fix the air bags, which can explode violently when they deploy, sending metal shards flying into the cabin. Honda has linked five deaths, including four in the United States, and dozens of injuries to the faulty air bags.
Mazda said it had not yet determined whether there was a defect in its cars, but added in a statement that “this action will support us to gather additional parts for examination and to promote customer satisfaction and safety.”
Last month, in a significant shift, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged automakers to expand nationwide their Takata-related recalls, or the agency would “use the full extent of its statutory powers” to compel them to do so.
Chrysler also expanded a recall of passenger-side air bags Thursday. The recall is still regional, but covers more states, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and territories of American Samoa, Guam and Saipan. The company, which says it is now committed to fixing more than 617,000 cars, had expanded its recall last week, but regulators had called the action insufficient.
