Exploding airbags: Honda recalls another 4.5 million cars

Tokyo

Japanese automaker Honda on Thursday said it was recalling another 4.5 million vehicles globally, as a scare over a deadly defect in Takata-made airbags widens.

The move takes to 24.5 million the total number of vehicles that the country's number three auto manufacturer has called back after the faulty airbags were linked to eight deaths around the world.

The defect thought to be associated with a chemical propellant that helps inflate the airbags can cause them to deploy with explosive force, sending metal shrapnel hurtling toward drivers and passengers.

The most recent confirmed victim was a woman in Los Angeles who died last year after the defective inflator in a 2001 Honda Civic ruptured, firing metal shards at her.

"Like other carmakers, we are investigating vehicles on the market in connection with this issue, and we found that some inflators have uneven gas density, which we worry could do some harm," a Honda spokesman said.