Daimler Recalls More Than 840,000 Vehicles Over Takata Air Bags

Daimler AG said it would recall 841,000 vehicles in the U.S. for possible air bag defects, the latest to be hit in the Takata Corp. saga involving potentially deadly air bags in more than 50 million vehicles globally.

The German auto maker said Tuesday it has decided to recall 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and about 136,000 Daimler vans in the U.S. after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notified it that certain air bag models from the Japanese manufacturer are potentially defective. Takata air bags with faulty inflaters can spray deadly shrapnel when deployed.

The expense for what the company called a "precautionary recall" is estimated at about €340 million, or $380.5 million.

Last week, Honda Motor Co. said it was recalling another 2.2 million vehicles in the U.S. because of air bags made by Takata that could potentially explode.

The moves by Honda and Daimler come after U.S. auto safety regulators said last month that auto makers will have to further expand their recalls by millions of vehicles following two issues— a recent death in a Ford pickup truck in which a Takata inflater ruptured, and after Takata said it has determined certain driver side inflaters are defective. Defective Takata air bags have been linked to 10 deaths.

The air bags with faulty inflaters are found in autos ranging from sport-utility vehicles made by Honda to vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co. and Daimler. Vehicles equipped with such air bags represent a significant chunk of the roughly 250 million on U.S. roads.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 15:45 ET (20:45 GMT)

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