A YEAR ago, Japan’s Takata Corp., the world’s second-largest maker of auto safety parts, believed it had finally contained a crisis more than a decade in the making.

    It was wrong.

    More than a million Honda Motor Co. vehicles could be subject to an upcoming recall for Takata air bags that are at risk of exploding and shooting shrapnel at passengers and drivers, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

    Those vehicles carry air bags made between 2000-02 when, Takata says, it botched production of air bag inflators and lost related records. Honda and other automakers have already recalled 7.6 million vehicles over the past five years.

    That total is now likely to grow after Takata said it is willing to replace more air bag inflators made between 2000-07 that it supplied to Honda, Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Mazda Motor, BMW, Chrysler and Ford Motor for vehicles sold in the United States.

    The possible additional recalls would come at a time when General Motors is under scrutiny over why it took more than a decade to discover a faulty ignition switch linked to at least 13 deaths. As automakers promote over-the-horizon breakthroughs like self-driving cars, the industry’s mass safety-related recalls underline how much can still go wrong with some of the cheapest, most established technologies.

    In April and May 2013, Takata’s customers, led by Honda and Toyota, recalled more than 4 million vehicles due to the risk that defective air bag inflators could blow apart and shoot metal shards into vehicles in the event of an accident.

    Those 2013 recalls, which ranked as the largest ever for an air bag defect, contributed to a US$300 million charge for Takata.

    Takata and Honda told U.S. safety regulators that the core of the problem was how the explosive material used to inflate Takata air bags had been handled and processed between 2000-02 at plants in the United States and Mexico.

    The 2013 recalls involving Honda and four other carmakers were intended to close the books on a problem that had emerged as early as 2007 and had already been linked to two deaths.

    Other automakers are expected to follow. Nissan said it would take “prompt action as necessary.” Mazda and Chrysler said they were investigating. BMW said it was in touch with Takata and regulators.

    Yet more vehicles could be recalled if an ongoing U.S. safety investigation finds evidence of wider problems.

    (SD-Agencies)