The United States federal safety regulators announced on Jan. 31 that three big automakers will recall about 2.1 million older vehicles to fix flaws that could cause air bags to inadvertently deploy when not needed, Reuters reported.
According to by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the vehicles involved in the recall are made by Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.
NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said there have been around 400 reported cases of accidental air bag deployments in the recalled cars causing some minor injuries although no known deaths have been reported.
Rosekind said that the recall involved a faulty chip in air bag systems requiring replacement of the whole air bag module with the circuits manufactured by parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings.
While three earlier recalls had been issued by the automakers to fix the chip issues, 39 vehicles fixed under these actions were reported to have had experienced accidental air bag deployments. This called for a new recall, the NHTSA explained.
The new recall was not related to millions of vehicles recalled over faulty Takata air bag inflators, which U.S. safety regulators have said can break and spray metal fragments inside the car. For the faulty Takata air bag inflators, more than 10 automakers are recalling over 8 million vehicles in the U.S., Detroit Free Press reported.
On Jan. 30, Honda said it has confirmed that a driver was killed by a crash involving a ruptured Takata air bag inflator in Texas Jan. 18 in Texas.