Honda widens Takata airbag recall by 21 million, reports quarterly losses

TOKYO, May 13 (UPI) -- Honda plans to recall an additional 21 million vehicles worldwide to repair defective Takata airbags, the company said.

Honda would not specify how many vehicles in the United States would be affected by the recall but it brings the company's portion of the Takata recall to a total of 51 million vehicles worldwide. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Takata ordered a recall of roughly 24 million vehicles.

The recall, one of the largest in history, has impacted dozens of automakers, but Honda has taken the biggest hit. The faulty airbag inflators have been recalled because they may spontaneously explode and spew shrapnel. So far, Takata has been blamed in 11 deaths and dozens of injuries worldwide.

Honda leaders also reported Friday a quarterly loss due to rising costs over the airbag recall. From January to March, Honda posted a net loss of 93.4 billion yen (roughly $855 million), compared with a profit of 81.9 billion yen (roughly $750 million) over the same period last year.

"It's true that [the air-bag recall costs] have wiped out our profits," Senior Managing Officer Kohei Takeuchi said.