Note: This article appeared on several websites this morning. Unfortunately, many of
them did not indicate the model years involved. But since the faulty airbags were made
between 2000 and 2002 (some say 2000 - 2004), the model years affected should include
2000 to 2005.

(Reuters) - Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, and Nissan Motor Co are
recalling 3.4 million vehicles sold around the world because airbags supplied by Takata
Corp are at risk of catching fire or injuring passengers. The move announced on Thursday
is the largest recall ever for airbags made by Takata, the world's second largest supplier
of airbags and seatbelts. Shares of Takata tumbled almost 10 percent in Tokyo trading.

The recall is the largest since Toyota pulled back more than 7 million vehicles in
October. The scale of the recent safety actions underscore the risk of huge global supply
chain problems as automakers increasingly rely on a handful of suppliers for common or
similar parts to cut costs, analysts have said. The recall covers some of the top-selling
Japanese cars, including Toyota's Camry and Corolla, and rivals like the Nissan Maxima and
Honda Civic. All of the vehicles in question were manufactured in or after 2000.

In an accident, the airbag for the front passenger seat may not inflate correctly because
of a manufacturing defect in the propellant used in the airbag inflator, the companies
said. As a result, there is a risk of fires starting or of passengers being injured.
Toyota, Honda and Nissan said there were no reports of injuries or deaths because of the
defective airbags.

The recall is the largest for Takata since 1995 when the Tokyo-based company was involved
in a recall of over 8 million vehicles because of defective seatbelts. Tokyo-based Takata
said it supplies airbags and seatbelts to major automakers including Daimler AG and Ford
Motor Co as well as the Japanese brands. Some non-Japanese automakers were also supplied
with the faulty airbags, Takata spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said. He declined to name
those automakers.

DEFECT FOUND

Between 2008 and 2011, Honda Motor Co was forced to recall about 2.8 million vehicles
after finding a defect with driver-side airbags supplied by Takata.

"When the last recall took place, we inspected everything such as the site of
manufacturing, but we were not able to identify this problem," said Hideyuki Matsumoto,
another spokesman for Takata.

Toyota said it would recall about 1.73 million vehicles produced between November 2000 and
March 2004, including 580,000 vehicles sold in North America and 490,000 vehicles sold in
Europe.

Honda said it was recalling around 1.14 million vehicles worldwide. Nissan Motor Co said
it was recalling about 480,000 vehicles globally. It said the number of vehicles under
recall could increase. Mazda Motor Co said it was recalling 45,500 vehicles worldwide.

The faulty airbags were manufactured between 2000 and 2002 in a Takata factory in Mexico.

The Toyota models covered by the recall include the Corolla, Tundra, Yaris and Camry.
Nissan models include the Maxima and the Cube.

Toyota will exchange the faulty airbag inflators for new ones, a fix that is expected to
take about an hour to two-and-a-half hours for most models, Toyota's Sakai said. He
declined to give the costs related to the recall.

"The inflators themselves are not so expensive, but there is the cost to cover for the
hours spent to fix the problem," said Kohei Takahashi, an auto industry analyst at J.P.
Morgan in Japan.

The recall, announced during Japanese trading hours, hit Takata's shares harder than it
did shares in the automakers, which typically carry reserves for recalls and warranty
costs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/11/us-toyota-recall-idUSBRE93A04D20130411

this kind of things are surpose to make the front page not a photo of a nairaland in south africa or wizkid and his untushed girlfriend.

shikaan: this kind of things are surpose to make the front page not a photo of a nairaland in south africa or wizkid and his untushed girlfriend.

Apart from being informed of what's going on, this news may not be useful for Nigeria-based
owners of the affected cars. But it will be useful for those based overseas. This may not
be apparent, but car manufacturers take these recalls very seriously.

Last year, Honda announced a power steering hose recall for some models of the Accord.
A few months later, as an Accord owner, I got a detailed letter from them asking me to
take my car to the nearest Honda dealership and have the hose replaced for free. Soon
after, they sent me a second later reminding me to take the car in for replacement (it
appears their record told them I did not take the car in after the first letter). In the
second letter, they even promised to reimburse me if I had already fixed the problem
myself.

So for those residing overseas, whenever there is a recall announcement, check and see if
your model is involved. If so, watch out for a letter from the car maker. If you don't get
it, call them.