Toyota Recalls 650,000 More Vehicles to Fix Airbag Flaws

Toyota Motor is recalling nearly 650,000 vehicles in Japan to deal with potentially flawed airbags after supplier Takata warned that further repairs could be needed.

The vehicles covered by the recall include the Corolla and Camry sedans, and Tundra trucks.

A Takata spokesman said that more vehicles could be recalled by other manufacturers because of potential airbag inflator defects.

Rivals Honda and Nissan Motor said they are examining whether they needed to recall more vehicles because of the problem.

Takata's stock finished 4.14% lower in Tokyo.

Toyota Gameplan

Toyota said it is expanding its 2013 recall, which involved 2.14 million vehicles, because the serial numbers provided by Takata, for the potentially defective airbag inflators, had been incomplete.

The Japanese automaker also said it will instruct dealers in the US and other markets to start replacing suspect Takata inflators on all vehicles covered by the 2013 recall, reported Reuters.

Toyota said it has received one report of a seat-cover burn related to supposedly defective airbag inflators.

April Recall

Toyota recalled 6.39 million vehicles globally in April 2014, including 35,124 in the UK, to deal with five different issues.

That recall came a month after the firm agreed to pay $1.2bn (£715m, €887m) to resolve a US criminal probe into the disclosure of safety issues.

The settlement between the US Justice Department and Toyota included an admission by Toyota that it misled American consumers about two different problems that caused cars to accelerate accidentally.

The Takata recall in 2013 followed several accidents and at least two deaths linked to faulty airbags.

In 2013, carmakers Toyota, Honda, Nissan and BMW recalled 3.6 million vehicles altogether owing to problems with the airbag inflator that could potentially explode and injure the driver or passengers. Those airbags were made by Takata.