Toyota expands Takata air bag recall in Japan, China

Credit: Reuters/Thomas Peter

A Toyota car is seen during a presentation of the car maker's active safety support systems technology in Tokyo, November 26, 2014.

The recall followed an unusual deployment of a Takata-made air bag in Toyota's 2003-model Will Cypha at a scrapyard last month, Japan's transport ministry said.

Toyota will recall 185,000 vehicles across 19 models including the Corolla and Alphard in Japan. Another 5,000 cars will be recalled in China.

Toyota said it was recalling the cars as a precautionary measure and that the cause of the problem was not yet known. It was not aware of injuries or deaths related to the problem, it said.

(Reporting by Mari Saito and Chang-Ran Kim)