Honda Recalls 4.89 Million Cars With Takata Airbags

Washington, DCJapanese car maker Honda is recalling 4.89 million vehicles equipped with potentially faulty Takata air bags. This recall is in addition to earlier recalls issued by Honda, Toyota and Nissan over defective airbags.

This extended recall covers 14 of Honda’s models produced between 2002 and 2008, including the Civic and CR-V ranges, which were fitted with airbags that have the risk of "abnormal" inflation. Since 2008, Honda has recalled some 11.4 million vehicles due to problems with Takata airbags.

Honda's (HMC) latest recall comes one day after its Japanese counterparts Toyota (TM) and Nissan (NSANF) recalled 6.56 million cars of their own.

According to a report by CNN, engineers at Takata first noticed problems with the chemical mix used in its airbags over a decade ago. The problem has to do with aspirin-sized Ammonium nitrate tablets that are put in a metal canister inside the airbag, and are designed to produce a gas that inflates the bag. However, extreme temperature can destabilize the ammonium nitrate causing the metal canister to explode, according to patent application documents the company filed by Takata.

At least five deaths have since been linked to the company's malfunctioning airbags.