The organisation said it has contacted Takata and the vehicle to call for the national recall of these vehicles after evaluating a recent incident that involved a failure in a driver’s side air bag inflator outside an area of high absolute humidity.

The agency also issued a General Order to Takata and all 10 of the vehicle manufacturers that use Takata air bag inflators – BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota – requiring each manufacturer to file detailed reports on completed, ongoing or planned testing of Takata inflators outside the current regional recall areas.

‘We now know that millions of vehicles must be recalled to address defective Takata air bags and our aggressive investigation is far from over,’ said NHTSA deputy administrator David Friedman. ‘We’re pushing Takata and all affected manufacturers to issue the recall and to ensure the recalls capture the full scope of the problems.’

Responses are due to the NHTSA by 5 December.