Another air bag maker issues recall

Continental’s action involves control units in up to 5 million vehicles worldwide.

Continental Automotive Systems Inc. is recalling potentially faulty air bag control units that were installed in up to 5 million vehicles worldwide.

In documents posted Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Continental said the air bag control units have a power supply component that could corrode and prevent the air bags from deploying or cause inadvertent inf lation. The air bag control units were made from 2006 through 2010.

Fewer than 2 million vehicles in the U. S. are affected, said Continental, a division of the Germany company Continental.

Continental said it would notify automakers that installed these air bag control units in their vehicles. Those firms are to notify customers and replace the units.

American Honda Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes- Benz already have issued some recalls. Mazda, Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo Trucks North America also bought affected units, the recall notice says. So did Kia Motors, which does not have affected vehicles in the U. S.

Honda said it received 1,575 warranty claims, 83 f ield reports and two conf irmed injuries related to this recall as of October. Its recall affects up to 341,444 vehicles. Fiat Chrysler’s recall affects 112,001 vehicles; Mercedes- Benz’s involves 126,260.

The Continental air bag control unit recall is separate from the Takata air bag recall, which includes about 19 million vehicles in the U. S., according to NHTSA. On Wednesday, Honda issued a recall for 2.23 million vehicles with potentially faulty Takata air bags.

Analysts said the two air bag recalls are not comparable, especially because Continental has a smaller market share than Takata, and Continental’s recall affects far fewer vehicles.