THOUSANDS of Swindon-made Hondas fitted with potentially faulty Takata airbag inflators are being recalled by the Japanese car giant.

Honda is recalling around five million vehicles worldwide fitted with the Takata component as investigations showed the problem behind one of the biggest auto safety crises may be more widespread than thought.

The latest move by the carmaker brings the overall global total of vehicles recalled for Takata-related airbags to around 36 million since 2008.

The announcement was made on Thursday, a day after Toyota and Nissan recalled 6.5 million vehicles worldwide. Daihatsu said it recalled nearly 260,000 cars.

Honda has launched a pro-active recall, which is not linked to any injuries or incidents on this occasion. It has been initiated for preventative and investigative reasons. There are 3.22 million vehicles with an affected passenger airbag and 1.68 million with a driver airbag issue.

The breakdown for the driver airbag problem in the UK is 87,317 Jazz, 34,450 Civic and three CR-Vs. There are no UK figures currently available for the passenger airbag vehicles, or how many of the recalled vehicles were made in Swindon.

Honda said it decided to recall the cars after finding some Takata bag inflators were not sealed properly, allowing moisture to seep into the propellent casing which could make the airbag explode with excessive force, shooting shrapnel inside the vehicle.

Six deaths have been linked to defective airbags, all on cars made by Honda, which has borne the brunt of the Takata recalls to date, and which posted disappointing profit forecasts last month citing high quality-related costs.

The problem was first identified in 2001 by truck manufacturer Isuzu and manufacturers have been conducting their own investigations into the problem.

Most of Takata’s previous recalls were to replace airbags made at factories in the United States and Mexico where moisture got into the casing, the company and automakers have said.

“While we are not able to determine the cause of the problems there is a possibility there will be more recalls,” said Honda spokesman Teruhiko Tatebe.

Asked about the latest recalls, A Takata spokesman said the company would continue to cooperate with the carmakers.

Takata chief financial officer Yoichiro Nomura told analysts on Thursday the company, which has boosted production to supply replacement inflators, had ‘no plans for now’ to set aside more cash for the latest recalls.

Honda said it would use replacement parts supplied by Takata rivals Autoliv and Daicel Corp, as well as by Takata itself.

Takata faces multiple class-action lawsuits in the United States and Canada, as well as a U.S. criminal investigation and regulatory probe.

It has said it expects to return to profit this financial year even though it made few provisions for costs related to the recall.