The German companies – Volkswagen and Daimler recall 1.5 million vehicles in the US due to a possible defect in airbags produced by the Japanese company Takata Corp.
The decision about recall followed last month the statement of US regulators in the field of automotive safety that, according to Takata, 5.1 million vehicles are equipped with faulty airbags in the United States.
When triggered, Takata airbags may explode. This defect has caused at least ten deaths in the world, and over 100 injuries in the US.
Initially, the problems with Takata airbags were announced in 2009. Since then, 14 automakers recalled a total of about 24 million cars sold in the United States.
Volkswagen announced that is recalling 680 000 cars in the USA due to faulty airbags, following the example of Daimler, which on Tuesday night announced the recall of 840 000 vehicles in the US for the same reason.
According to Daimler, the company decided to recall about 705 000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and 136 000 trucks, after it was notified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States about the potential defect of some Takata airbags.
Under recall there are models of Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class convertible, C-Class and E-Class sedans, M- and GL-Class sport cars, and also R-Class vehicles and SLS, produced in the period from 2005 to 2014.
In addition, the recall decision affects the models produced from 2007 to 2014, including under the Dodge brand vehicles, Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
Volkswagen said that under recall in the US will get VW models produced from 2006 to 2014.