Nissan and Toyota recall 6.5 million cars worldwide to investigate airbag fault

Around 260,000 cars are being recalled in the UK. Owners of affected cars will be contacted in June...

Nissan and Toyota recall 6.5 million cars worldwide to investigate airbag fault

Toyota and Nissan are recalling 6.5 million cars worldwide to investigate potentially faulty airbags manufactured by Takata.

Approximately 160,000 Toyotas are affected in the UK, as well as 100,263 Nissans.

In the UK, Toyotas being recalled are the Corolla, Yaris, Picnic and Avensis Verso, built between March 2003 and March 2007. All of these cars are being investigated for faults in the passenger's airbag. Other models involved in the recall for faults in the driver's airbag are the Toyota RAV4, Yaris and Hilux pickup.

For Nissan, the affected vehicles in the UK are the Navara pickup, Tino, Patrol, Almera, Terrano II and X-Trail.

Of the 6.5 million cars being recalled globally, around 5,089,000 are Toyotas.

Toyota has said that owners of cars involved will be contacted within six weeks, while Nissan has said customers will be notified in June, and both manufacturers have announced that repairs will be carried out free of charge.

The problem is believed to be with certain airbag inflators which may deploy abnormally in a crash because of moisture intrusion. However, the relationship of moisture intrusion and the risk of a fault inflation is not known.