Takata recalling about 34 million vehicles in U.S. with defective air bags

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese air bag manufacturer Takata Corp has agreed to declare nearly 34 million vehicles defective due to problems with air bag inflators, creating the largest automotive recall in American history, U.S. safety regulators said on Tuesday.

The recall, which still does not identify the reason why the problem is occurring, involves passenger and driver-side air bags in vehicles made by 11 automakers, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. It expands on previous regional and national recalls for the same issue.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said NHTSA also issued a consent order to Takata, requiring the supplier to cooperate in the safety agency's ongoing probe as well as any oversight.

NHTSA also said it will "organise and prioritise the replacement of defective Takata inflators" under its legal authority.

"We will not stop our work until every air bag is replaced," Foxx said.

A recall that size will cost Takata and its automaker customers an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion, said Scott Upham, president of Valient Market Research, which tracks the air bag industry.

(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Jennings and Matthew Lewis)