Carmaker BMW will recall 1.4 million vehicles in China due to faulty airbags, the country’s market regulator announced on Friday.

Cars that have had steering wheel refits may have defective airbags from Japan’s Takata Corporation that could rupture and “cause fragments to fly out and potentially injure occupants”, the State Administration for Market Regulation said.

The affected cars include models manufactured from 2003 to 2017. Nearly 600,000 domestically produced cars, manufactured by the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive, and around 760,000 imported cars will be recalled.

For cars confirmed to have defects, the German automaker will replace the front airbag free of charge.

Millions of cars fitted with Takata airbags have been recalled since 2014, and the company went bankrupt three years later. Ford recalled three million vehicles containing Takata airbags in 2021.

In July this year, BMW recalled nearly 400,000 cars in the United States for the same reason.

China is the world’s largest automotive market. Last month, hybrid and electric vehicles accounted for more than half of sales, marking a first in the highly competitive segment dominated by local brands. Separately, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz is on track to overtake rival BMW to take the title of the world’s biggest luxury carmaker, sales figures for November released on Monday showed.

November sales of BMW branded luxury cars were up 5.9 percent to 177,740 taking year-to-date sales to 1,824,490. By contrast Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales were up 12.7 percent to 182,602 increasing year-to-date sales to 1,893,619.

Sales of BMW’s core brand reached 1.91 million in 2015 on strong demand for sports utility vehicles like the X5, the 11th year in a row the Munich-based carmaker clinched the title in 2005.

Agencies