USA - BMW expands TAKATA Airbag scandal to 420,661 vehicles.

BMW is recalling 420,661 U.S. vehicles due to issues involving Takata airbags, U.S. auto safety regulators said on Thursday. BMW of North America is recalling 20 models from 2002 to 2006 model years that contain Takata driver-side front airbag inflators. Regulators said the airbag module will be replaced.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said BMW examined its production and manufacturing records to determine the scope of affected vehicles and converted an existing national improvement campaign into a voluntary recall, increasing the number of affected vehicles to 420,661 from 140,696.

Takata is at the center of a global recall of tens of millions of cars for potentially deadly airbag inflators that could deploy with too much force and spray metal fragments inside vehicles. Regulators have linked six deaths to the component so far, all on Honda cars.

After months of resisting, Takata last week agreed with the NHTSA to roughly double its U.S.-based recall to 34 million vehicles spanning 11 automakers.

On Thursday Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it would recall 4,066,732 vehicles from the 2004 to 2011 model years "equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture," according to a filing by FCA with the NHTSA.

Toyota, Nissan and Honda have expanded their Takata recalls over the past week.