Five carmakers including Toyota Motor Corp. are recalling an additional 1.04 million vehicles in Japan equipped with air bags made by Takata Corp., the transport ministry has said.
The move, announced Thursday, brings the total number of cars recalled in the country over the potentially defective air bag inflators to 18.82 million. The other automakers include Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru-brand cars, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Hino Motors Ltd., and Mercedes-Benz Japan.
The automakers are recalling 1,039,534 vehicles across 54 models produced or imported between December 2002 and April 2013, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Concern that Takata's air bag inflators could rupture with too much force and spray metal parts at passengers has caused around 100 million vehicles to be recalled around the world, while the defective part has been blamed for at least 15 deaths globally.