Honda recalls 4.89M vehicles

TOKYO — Honda Motor Co. recalled an additional 4.89 million vehicles around the world today for a new type of problem in Takata air bag inflators, for which Japanese rivals Toyota and Nissan have already carried out recalls.

Honda also announced a global recall for 47,800 Acura and other model vehicles for a defect in the radar system designed to make cars safer to drive by stopping automatically before crashes.

With today’s announcement, the recalls over the Takata Corp. air bag inflator problems have ballooned to 19.6 million vehicles for Honda.

On Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. expanded their Takata-related recalls by 6.5 million vehicles, to take care of the new problem.

In the latest problem, a leak can happen while the vehicle is in use, causing a rupture, and the air bag could explode, according to Honda. The earlier recalls were for exploding air bag inflators that stemmed from defects during production of the air bags.

The cause of the defect is not yet exactly pinpointed.

No North American vehicles are affected by the latest Honda recall. Some 1.72 million vehicles, for the 2004 through 2008 models years, were recalled in Japan. Other regional breakdowns were not immediately available.

No injuries have been reported related to the latest problem, Tokyo-based Honda said.