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The
decision was prompted after a passenger in a Nissan Motor Co.
vehicle was injured this year when an airbag ruptured, despite
the inflator having been checked in an earlier inspection.
Nissan this month reissued recalls for around 310,000 vehicles
in Japan due to the incident.
In earlier inspections, automakers had checked the inflators
using ammonium nitrate for air leaks and deemed some safe enough
not to be replaced. But Toyota said in emailed comments that it
would now replace all of those inflators. The replacement parts
will be made by Takata.
The recall affects around 20 domestic models produced between
2004 and 2008, including the Vitz compact. The initial recalls
were conducted in May and June.
Information on how this may affect recalls outside Japan was not
immediately available.
U.S. regulators have linked Takata inflators using ammonium
nitrate, which can explode upon deployment and spray shrapnel,
to eight deaths, triggering the recall of tens of millions of
vehicles worldwide.
This month, Toyota, Nissan and other major car manufacturers
said they would stop using ammonium nitrate inflators
manufactured by Takata in new models. Takata says it has yet to
determine the root cause of the defect.
The embattled airbag maker was fined $70 million by U.S.
regulators, which also ordered the company to stop using the
potentially dangerous propellant.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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