Toyota Motor Corp (TM) Recalling 5.8 Million Vehicles Globally
Toyota Motor Corp. (ticker: TM) announced Wednesday a recall of approximately 5.8 million cars in countries across the world due to possible faulty Takata Corp. air bag inflators, reports Reuters.
These inflators have a chemical compound that could "explode with excessive force" following too much time in "hot conditions," reports Reuters. They have been associated with at least 16 deaths across the world.
More of these deaths occurred in the United States. Takata, with U.S. pressure, said previously in 2016 that it would call out more of its air bags for being faulty in both the U.S. and elsewhere.
The Corolla and the Vitz or Yaris subcompact hatchback model are among the models affected. The recall involves the driver-side and passenger-side airbags placed in cars made from May 2000 through November 2001, and April 2006 through December 2014. This applies to approximately 1.16 million vehicles in Japan, 1.47 million in Europe and 820,000 in China, not to mention its reach in Central and South America and other parts of the world.
This recall started in roughly 2008 and keeps growing. This announcement also affects 20,000 cars that received replacement Takata inflators after being recalled first in 2010. These replacements don't have a drying agent, which have been deemed unsafe globally.
Toyota stock is down more than 6.5 percent on the year.
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David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com.
