Automakers add millions more cars to Takata air bag recalls

Automakers were adding millions of cars Thursday to their official lists of models recalled because of potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it will add another 1.4 million vehicles globally. Honda announced the addition of 350,000 in the U.S. And BMW added 420,100, also in the U.S.

That's likely just the start. Eleven automakers in the U.S. have been caught in the Takata air bag recalls, and it's likely more will add recall details as they figure them out.

The action came as a followup to last week's announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was nearly doubling the number of vehicles included in the Takata recall to 33.8 million.

At the time, NHTSA said it knew the grand total but did not have a list of the individual models. The task of determining the additional models was left up to automakers, which have been scrambling ever since.

Air bags made by Japan's Takata are deemed dangerous because their inflators can explode when they deploy in a crash, sending shards of metal or plastic at drivers or passengers. They have been blamed for six deaths, all in Hondas. The problem appears to be worse in states with high humidity.

The confusion isn't over. Honda said that even though it knows the models involved and grand totals, it is now trying find out whether they may have been registered in any of the states considered to have high humidity that could make the air bags deploy in a more dangerous way. It will take "several weeks" to determine a more specific list, Honda said.

Honda had previously recalled its 350,000 vehicles to fix driver's side air bags. Now the same cars are coming back to replace the passenger side as well.

"The vast majority of Honda and Acura vehicles impacted by last week's announcement were already covered by past recalls or safety improvement campaigns," says Bruce Smith, a vice president for American Honda. "In fact, many of these vehicles have already been repaired – we've replaced nearly 2 million inflators since 2013, most of those in the last nine months alone."

BMW found itself in the opposite position of Honda. It had previously recalled 381,000 3-Series cars made between 2004 and 2006 to replace passenger's side air bags. Now many of the same cars are being recalled again to fix the driver's side airbags. This time, the recall covers 2002 to 2006. It also added some vehicles that haven't been subject to air bags recalls before. They include 28,500 5-Series sedans from 2002 and 2003 equipped with an optional sport steering wheel. Also in the recall are 10,500 X5 crossovers from 2003 when also equipped with the same wheel.

Here are the Honda models that have been recalled:

•2001-2007 Honda Accord

•2001-2005 Honda Civic

•2002-2006 Honda CR-V

•2003-2011 Honda Element

•2002-2004 Honda Odyssey

•2003-2008 Honda Pilot

•2006 Honda Ridgeline

•2003-2006 Acura MDX

•2002-2003 Acura TL

•2003 Acura CL

•2005 Acura RL

Here are the Fiat Chrysler models that have been recalled so far:

• 2004-2008 Dodge Ram 1500 pickups

• 2005-2009 Dodge Ram 2500 pickups

• 2006-2009 Dodge Ram 3500 pickups

• 2008-2010 Dodge Ram 4500 and 5500 cab chassis vehicles

• 2008-2009 Sterling 4500 and 5500 cab chassis vehicles

• 2004-2008 Dodge Durango full-size SUVs

• 2005-2010 Chrysler 300, 300C and SRT8 full-size sedans

• 2005-2010 Dodge Charger full-size sedans

• 2005-2010 Dodge Magnum full-size station wagons

• 2005-2011 Dodge Dakota small pickups

• 2006-2011 Mitsubishi Raider small pickups

The recalled BMW models:

2002-2006 3 Series

2002-2003 5 Series (1)

2003 X5 (1)

(1) When equipped with optional sport steering wheel

In a separate action Thursday, Fiat Chrysler said it is also pulling back 2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups.