Toyota expands Takata airbag recall to cover 5.8 million more vehicles

TOYOTA, Japan, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- An airbag defect responsible for nearly a dozen deaths in the United States and many other injuries led Toyota on Wednesday to recall nearly 6 million more vehicles worldwide.

The defect affects 5.8 million airbags manufactured by Takata Corp.

The recall involves 1.4 million vehicles in Europe, 1.1 million in Japan and 820,000 in China manufactured between April 2006 and December 2014, Toyota said.

The problem is the airbag modules lack a drying agent that prevents the buildup of moisture. Without the agent, too much moisture can cause the airbag to inflate without warning and send plastic and metal shrapnel flying into the passenger cabin.

Takata uses ammonium nitrate in its airbag inflators, which can become unstable in prolonged moist and hot conditions.

Takata airbags have also been the subject of previous recalls involving Honda and Acura vehicles.

Wednesday's recall announcement doesn't involve any vehicles in the United States because Toyota has already recalled U.S. vehicles for the airbag problem.

Also involved in the new announcement is an expansion of a 2010 recall for 20,000 additional vehicles that may now have problems with replacement airbags that lack the drying agent, the company said.

The recall involving Takata airbags, which now involves more than 23 million Toyota vehicles, is the largest in auto history.

So far, at least 11 people have died in incidents related to the faulty airbags and hundreds have been injured around the world.