Nissan, Honda add more than 2 million cars to air bag recall

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. recalled almost 3 million vehicles to repair flaws in Takata Corp. air bags, adding to a call back by Toyota Motor Corp. earlier this month.

Honda’s announcement covers 2.03 million vehicles, including the Fit compact and CR-V sport utility vehicle, according to Akemi Ando, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based carmaker. About 755,000 of Nissan’s cars need to be fixed worldwide, said Chris Keeffe, a spokesman for the automaker.

Japan’s three biggest carmakers have recalled more than 5 million vehicles this month as scrutiny of potential safety flaws rises in the auto industry. General Motors Co. is facing investigations for its recall of almost 2.6 million cars for faulty ignition switches.

“We expected there would be more recalls of this size from other carmakers,” Koji Endo, an analyst at Advanced Research Japan, said by phone.

The air-bag flaws were related to inadequate pressure and excess moisture during their production, Ando told reporters today in Tokyo.

Takata rose 2.9 percent to 2,111 yen as of the close of trading in Tokyo, paring this year’s decline to 30 percent. The benchmark Topix index has dropped 2.7 percent this year.

Carmakers called back more than 3 million vehicles, including 1.73 million for Toyota and 1.14 million for Honda, in April last year because of defective air-bag inflators supplied by Tokyo-based Takata.

Honda, the biggest customer of Takata, has called back a total of 6 million vehicles for problems with Takata air bags in nine recalls since 2008, based on figures from the carmaker. Two people died in 2009 in accidents related to the defect, Ando said.

Toyota this month said 2.27 million of its cars worldwide are affected by the recall. A recall last year didn’t include all vehicles affected by the defective air bag inflators, Toyota has said.

Mazda Motor Corp. recalled 159,807 vehicles, Takashi Goto, a spokesman for the carmaker, said by phone today.

“We apologize for the trouble caused to our clients,” said Kikko Takai, a Takata spokeswoman. “We take it seriously and will strengthen our quality control to prevent a repeat of the issue.”