Washington, May 19 (EFE).- Japanese auto parts maker Takata agreed to recall more than 33 million vehicles in the United States, acknowledging that the air bags it installed in them are defective and could cause serious injury to motorists.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday at a Washington press conference that Takata has admitted the problems and agreed to undertake the largest recall in automotive history.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement that “Today is a major step forward for public safety. The Department of Transportation is taking the proactive steps necessary to ensure that defective inflators are replaced with safe ones as quickly as possible, and that the highest risks are addressed first. We will not stop our work until every air bag is replaced.”

The recall will include 16 million vehicles in the United States for defects in the passenger side air bags and more than 17 million vehicles for the driver’s side air bags.

The automobiles affected by the recall include the following brands: BMW, Chrysler, Daimler Trucks, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

For months, the department Foxx heads and the NHTSA have been pressuring Takata to broaden its recall, but U.S. authorities had met with obstinate resistance from the Japanese firm.

Takata had admitted that the air bags produced at a plant it operates in Mexico have defective inflators that, under conditions of high humidity and temperature, could explode when they deploy causing serious injury to the vehicle’s occupants.

The problem concerns the gas used as a propellant in the inflators, which can degrade over time.

The NHTSA said Tuesday that the defect has caused air bag inflator explosions that are known to have resulted in six deaths worldwide.

The firm had recalled millions of vehicles in parts of the United States with elevated humidity and temperatures, mainly in the South and Southwest, but so far it had rejected expanding the recall to other parts of the country arguing that the air bag systems in vehicles in colder climates were safe.

Foxx also announced that the NHTSA had issued a “consent order” requiring the company to cooperate in all future regulatory actions that the NHTSA undertakes in its ongoing invest