Continental recalls 5 million vehicles in the U.S. for potentially defective airbags

As a result, NHTSA said the recall would be expanded again to include about 1 million vehicles that use the type of driver-side air bag inflator found in the Ranger.

The company plans to replace the recalled inflators with new parts from an alternative supplier free of charge to Honda and Acura vehicle owners.

However, the necessary parts won’t be available until this fall because of the large number of vehicles in the recall, Honda said. This is the latest massive U.S. recall related to airbag problems, after Honda issued again this week another recall linked to Takata’s inflators, adding 2.23 million more vehicles to its already massive safety campaign.

Other automakers are expected to follow Honda and announce more recalls as well.

If affected vehicles have an activated restraint system indicator light, drivers should bring the auto to their dealership for a diagnostic check, Honda said.

Continental first became aware of the issue in 2008, when a faulty control unit from a Mercedes-Benz vehicle was analyzed. The figure could soon approach 25 million in the US alone, according to several industry observers.

Repairs on affected vehicles will start this summer.

Reuters reports that Honda recalled another 269,000 similar models in Canada on Monday for the same issue. (It’s a theme.) That can cause serious electrical problems, forcing airbags to deploy without warning or cause, or preventing them from deploying during collisions.

The newly recalled vehicles are part of a broader announcement by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month that 5 million more vehicles with the defective air bags would have to be recalled. Interim notifications will be mailed to owners beginning on March 15, 2016, and a second notice will be mailed when remedy parts are available.

The ongoing saga of defective Takata airbags continues. It applies to all cars, regardless of status: “Our dealer agreements require fix of all recalls before vehicle sale for any new or used vehicle”.

Additional automakers jumped into the ring when in October 2015, Mercedes-Benz filed a defect report and ordered a recall concerning the Continental airbags.

The Continental airbags have problems with corrosion inside an airbag component that can cause the airbags to fail in a crash.