Defective Takata airbags; Ford to recall 3 million vehicles.

The U.S. auto safety regulator stated it would ask Ford Motor Co to recall 3 million vehicles with potentially faulty Takata airbags.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was denying petitions filed by Ford and Mazda Motor Corp in which the automakers sought to avoid recalling vehicles with potentially dangerous inflators. The decision also will require Mazda to recall and repair driver airbags in nearly 5,800 vehicles. The recalls will include various vehicles from 2006 through 2012 model years.

The defect, which leads in rare instances to airbag inflators bursting and sending possibly deadly metal pieces flying, especially after long-term exposure to high humidity, provoked the largest automotive recall in U.S. history of more than 67 million inflators. Worldwide, about 100 million inflators fitted by 19 major automakers have been recalled.

Takata inflators have ended in the deaths of at least 27 people worldwide and 18 alone in the United States and over 400 reported injuries. Ford and Mazda did not instantly comment.

The vehicles that will be recalled include various Ford Ranger, Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln MKX vehicles, along with Mazda 2007-2009 model year B-Series vehicles.