Japanese carmaker Honda recalled Monday some 2,033,000 vehicles produced between August 2000 and December 2005, including more than 1 million in North America and 668,000 in Japan.

Two other auto makers, Mazda and Nissan, also recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles due to the same problem. In May, the world's largest carmaker, Toyota, asked 2.27 million car owners to visit garages over airbag flaws.

On Monday, Japanese manufacturer Takata noted its US subsidiary had actually produced the airbags. The supplier apologized for the problem, vowing to do its best to prevent a recurrence.

"We apologize deeply for causing tremendous trouble and worries to client companies, users of our products and other people concerned," the company said in a statement.

Nissan has recalled a combined 755,000 vehicles, including 128,000 in Japan and 627,000 overseas. At Mazda, the recall would cover 11,832 vehicles at home and 147,975 units overseas, mainly in Europe and China, a company spokesperson said.

The problems concerned front passenger airbag inflators that were assembled with an improperly manufactured propellant component. That could cause the container of the inflator to rupture in the event of a crash, posing a risk of fire or passenger injury.

In May, Toyota said it acted after it received a complaint from a Japanese customer who said his passenger seat was burned from the defect. Honda said on Monday the company had received no complaints or reports of injuries on its own.

uhe/cjc (dpa, AFP)