BMW Recalls 1.6 Million 3-Series

German car manufacturer BMW has announced that it will be recalling roughly 1.6 million cars globally amid concerns over faulty airbags.

BMW has said that 3-Series vehicles made between 1999 and 2006 should be brought in to fix bag-inflation devices.

The German giant gets its airbags from Takata Corp and the automaker said it has seen cases in its rival's cars where gas generators in the airbags have ruptured.

However, the automaker has moved to quash customer fears, saying that the recall is simply an extension of the recall last year, which saw 240,000 BMW cars built in 2001 through to 2003 brought back for the same issue.

"Formally speaking, it is a voluntary extension of last year's recall campaign," read a statement from BMW.

"At that time, the supplier stated a production period during which potentially faulty gas generators were installed in passenger airbags."

Last year, Mazda and Toyota were forced to recall 3.4 million vehicles for defective airbag systems manufactured by Takata Corp. The airbags were replaced as they could catch fire or accidentally inflate injuring passengers.

In the last five years, car makers who use Japan's Takata Corp for their airbag needs have been forced to recall more than 10.5 million automobiles.

Still, this figure doesn't compare to General Motors who, since the turn of the year, announced 55 different recalls in North America, affecting a total of almost 29 million vehicles – over three times the 9.7 million it sold in 2013.