Mercedes-Benz, the luxury brand of German automaker Daimler AG, and its Chinese joint ventures are going to recall 351,218 vehicles because of possible problems with air bags made by Japan’s Takata Corp, China’s quality watchdog stated on Friday.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) stated on its website that it was concerned about dangers arising from possible flaws in the cars’ air bag inflators.
Official Chinese estimates showed more than 20 million cars in China had air bags made by Takata, which have been connected to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries globally.
The flaw led to the biggest recall in automobile history and bankruptcy of the Japanese company that had actually become burdened with 10s of billions of dollars worth of liabilities.
The recall by Mercedes-Benz and its Chinese joint ventures will started from October 15 and consist domestically developed and imported cars produced from 2006 through 2012, with models consisting of the SLK-Class and A-Class, the AQSIQ stated.
It follows comparable recalls by General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG previous month.
The Chinese watchdog asked the three automakers in July to recall cars in China impacted by potentially malfunctioning Takata air bags. Approximately that time, the automakers had proposed recalling a small number of vehicles for testing and analysis.
