Japanese car makers recall millions of vehicles over airbag fault

Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda models bought in UK are affected

Millions of cars worldwide and thousands in UK are being recalled due to a suspected airbag problem in some Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda models.

The problem relates to the air bag inflator on the passenger side of vehicles, which may burst and send pieces of plastic flying. So far there have been five reported incidents, in the USA and Japan, but none involved injuries.

Toyota is recalling 76,000 vehicles bought in the UK in the period November 2000 to March 2004, while Honda is recalling 15,400 UK-bought vehicles made between 2001 and 2004.

The Toyota recall involves models such as the Corolla and the Yaris, while the Honda recall involves the Civic, the CRV and the FRV.

Nissan said that 59,058 of its cars sold in the UK are affected by the recall, including the X-Trail, Patrol, Almera, and Navara models.

The recall also involves 1,913 of the Mazda 6 models bought in the UK between 2002 and 2003.

Worldwide, Toyota, Honda and Nissan are recalling more than two million vehicles.