Toyota recalls 7,129 units of Corolla in India to fix airbags

Japanese car giant Toyota is recalling 7,129 units of its executive sedan Corolla in India to fix faulty passenger side airbags as part of a global exercise.

The company, present in India through a joint venture with the Kirloskar group, said the units being recalled were manufactured between April 2007 and July 2008.

"As an expansion of the existing service campaign held voluntarily by Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and in line with the global recall by Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), TKM has announced that the special service campaign for passenger side air bag in the Corolla model will be extended to Corolla models manufactured during April 2007 till June 2008," the company said in a statement.

In addition to that, few vehicles manufactured between June 2008 and July 2008 fall under the '7 year mandate' of voluntary recall code and for the same, TKM will initiate a voluntary Recall to inspect and rectify the vehicles, it added.

TKM also confirmed that no complaints have been received in India so far and this campaign has been extended in line with Toyota's global practices.

In 2013, Toyota had recalled a select lot of Corolla sold in India as part of its global recall of 17.3 lakh vehicles to rectify defective airbags.

Corolla cars produced between January 2003 and June 2003 in the country were recalled. The airbags were made by Japanese parts maker Takata, whose airbags have sparked a global recall crisis.

Various manufacturers, including Nissan and Honda have also been impacted due to faulty airbags supplied by Takata.

Last week, Nissan announced a recall of around 12,000 units of various models, including mid-sized sedan Sunny and small car Micra, manufactured between June 2013 and March 2015 in India as part of its global campaign to rectify engine switches and airbags.

Last month, Honda Cars India recalled a total of 11,381 units of Accord, CR-V and Civic, manufactured between 2003 and 2007, to replace a faulty part in the passenger and driver side airbags, as part of its global campaign of fixing potential defects related to airbags.

Ever since the auto industry body SIAM started voluntary vehicle recalls for safety-related issues in India in July 2012, around eight lakh vehicles have been recalled by various manufacturers in the country.