Toyota Motor Co. is in the process of recalling 2.27 million vehicles around the world because of a problem in the airbags that can cause explosions.
The world's biggest automotive manufacturer said it was "notifying" owners of vehicles involved in a safety recall that took place year, including 766,300 in the U.S., to have airbag inflators replaced, according to The Daily Mail. The company had previously asked dealers to inspect the airbags and replace only those that were judged to be defective.
Almost 20 models are affected by the recall. These models include some Corolla compacts and Tundra pick-up trucks that were made in 2003 and 2004. Lexus SC 430 coupes made between 2002 and 2004 are also affected.
Cindy Knight, spokesperson for Toyota, said the new group of recall vehicles is a combination of owners who need to have their vehicles checked out again and those who didn't come in for the initial recall, Autoblog reported. She added that owners will be contacted about the issue close to the end of the month. She also stated, however, that repairs will take place in phases, due to the company currently not having all the parts needed for repairs.
The automaker found out about the issue when its supplier Takata gave the company an improved list of the serial numbers of faulty parts.
650,000 of the affected vehicles are in Japan, and 1.62 million are in the rest of the world, The Daily Mail reported. The list of serial numbers Toyota received from Takata brought the total number of recall vehicles up from the 2.1 million recalled last year.
Honda and Nissan are also looking into recalling more vehicles after Takata admitted that not of the defective parts were identified during a recall in 2013. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW and other automakers recalled 3.6 million vehicles last year because of issues with the airbag inflator that could possibly explode and injure the driver and passengers.
Toyota said it was informed of one case in which a malfunctioning airbag inflator caused a seat cover to burn.
The company said all of the recalled vehicles had passenger-seat airbags that could deploy "abnormally" during an accident.
