Four Japanese carmakers, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda, are recalling 3.4 million vehicles worldwide - 76,000 in the UK - as a result of an airbag problem. Cars between nine and 13 years old are involved.
Toyota is recalling 1.73m vehicles globally, including 580,000 vehicles in North America and 490,000 vehicles in Europe because some airbags at the front seat next to the driver may not inflate when necessary.
Toyota will exchange the faulty inflator with new ones, a fix that is expected to take about an hour to two-and-a-half hours for most models.
Honda said it is recalling around 1.14m vehicles worldwide. Nissan is recalling about 480,000 vehicles globally, while Mazda is recalling about 45,500 vehicles.
The recall is for Mazda6's made between 2002 and 2003.
This only affects the first generation Mazda6 manufactured - 1,913 vehicles in the UK.
As these cars are now 10 years old they are unlikely to be with the original owner so Mazda UK is working with the DVLA and our dealer partners to inform the customers who are currently driving these cars to contact their nearest Mazda dealer to have the airbag inflator replaced.
The work takes about 30 minutes and will be done free of charge.
Jeremy has been a journalist for 30 years, 20 of which have been in business-to-business automotive. He was a writer and news editor on AM-sister brand Fleet News for three years before setting up the AM website. For the last five years he has been Bauer B2B’s head of digital helping to manage the digital assets of AM, together with Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail and Smart Transport.
John Maslen - 11/04/2013 12:18
In what other industry would a manufacturer take responsibility for a fault with a product that is 14-years-old, then cover the cost of replacing the affected part. Amazing.