Japan's transport ministry has received a report of an "unusual deployment" of a Takata Corp air bag outside an existing recall. The news raises the chances that current recalls could be expanded in Japan.
Officials at the ministry, Japan's auto safety regulator, announced on Wednesday that a passenger-side air bag exploded as it was being removed from a scrapped car in Gifu prefecture in central Japan on Nov. 6. When the bag exploded, it shot out metal shrapnel, though one was injured, according to a report by Reuters.
"In this case, we don't yet know the cause of the unusual deployment and we don't yet have detailed information, so we are instructing the carmaker to determine the cause and report back as soon as possible," said Masato Sahashi, director of the ministry's recall enforcement office, according to the report.
The ministry wouldn't say the company that made the car, adding only that it was a Japanese automaker. The 2003 vehicle was fitted with a Takata air bag with an inflator manufactured back in January of that year.
Officials said this specific inflator produced at this time was not subjected to recalls in Japan, though it may be part of a wider recall by some companies abroad.
"The type of inflator which malfunctioned in this case is carried in other cars that are still on the road, so this is useful in determining whether there should be more recalls," Sahashi said.
Japan's transport ministry has created a task force to deal with air bag-related vehicle recalls, specifically to handle those made by Takata.
The task force has also been asked to conduct an investigation into Japanese automaker Honda for underreporting issues in the U.S., Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Close to 16 million vehicles equipped with Takata air bags have been recalled globally. More than 10 million of those vehicles have been sold in the U.S., according to Reuters.
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