VW and Daimler recall 1.5m US cars over faulty airbag fears

Carmakers have so far recalled a total of 24 million US vehicles involving 28 million Takata air bag inflators

Hazel Sheffield
Wednesday 10 February 2016 18:39 GMT
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Takata employee sews an airbag at Takata's current crash-testing facility August 19, 2010 in Auburn Hills, Michigan
Takata employee sews an airbag at Takata's current crash-testing facility August 19, 2010 in Auburn Hills, Michigan (GETTY IMAGES)

Volkswagen and Daimler are recalling 1.5 million vehicles in the US due to potentially faulty air bags made by the Japanese company Takata Group.

Takata declared that 5.1 million cars in the US might contain the faulty air bags, which can explode with too much force, spraying shrapnel in the car.

They are linked with at least 10 deaths worldwide and and 100 injuries in the US.

The two German carmakers are the latest of 14 brands to get caught up in the Takata scandal.

So far, carmakers have recalled a total of 24 million US vehicles involving 28 million Takata air bag inflators.

Volkswagen is to recall 680,000 vehicles in the US while Daimler is expected to check a further 840,000 US vehicles.

Daimler is also recalling 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and around 136,000 vans after it was notified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that some air bags were defective.

Daimler said it would pay for recall costs stretching into hundreds of millions of dollars by revising its 2015 financial results.

Volkswagen meanwhile has not said how much the recall will cost.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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