Continental Automotive Systems Inc. recalled five million potentially defective air-bag control units globally for problems that cause the safety equipment to inadvertently deploy or fail to activate altogether.

Honda Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG are among car makers that purchased the affected equipment for possible use in vehicles, according to documents Continental filed with U.S. regulators.

Fewer than two million affected vehicles are in the U.S., according to a spokeswoman for Continental in Auburn Hills, Mich. Continental Automotive is a division of Germany's Continental AG.

The Continental spokeswoman said the company is working closely with affected car makers and providing them with relevant information. The spokeswoman said each auto maker determines whether a defect exists in their respective vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler on Thursday said it was recalling about 112,000 older crossovers and minivans in the U.S. due to the problem, which the car maker described as components being subjected to unintended moisture that can cause air bags to accidentally deploy or, more likely, a warning light to illuminate.

The Italian-U.S. auto maker said it was aware of seven minor injuries possibly tied to the problem, but no accidents. Fiat Chrysler said none of the affected vehicles used air-bag inflaters equipped with ammonium nitrate, a chemical propellant linked to problems in exploding air bags made by a separate company, Takata Corp.

Honda, meanwhile, said it would recall roughly 341,000 2008-2010 Accord sedans in the U.S. to replace an electronic-control unit susceptible to moisture that can lead to corrosion and eventual malfunction, causing an air bag to fail to deploy. Honda said it was aware of two injuries linked to the problem.

Other car makers didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Continental in regulatory filings said variations in the manufacturing process for a power-supply component can cause a semiconductor material to corrode and eventually cut electrical connections. As a result, air bags can fail to deploy in a crash or inadvertently fire.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started probing the problem in August amid complaints that air bags failed to deploy in 2008 Honda Accords.

The Continental recall comes on the heels of widening recalls of rupture-prone Takata air bags linked to nearly a dozen deaths globally.

Auto makers in the U.S. are recalling more than 24 million vehicles with Takata air bags, which can explode and spray shrapnel.

While unrelated, the Continental and Takata recalls deepen air-bag woes for auto makers. Air bags have long been considered among the most significant modern automotive safety breakthroughs, supplementing seat belts as a critical feature for reducing highway deaths.

But lawmakers and others have expressed alarm over the failure to spot and report defective Takata air bags over long time periods.

Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2016 12:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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