A faulty airbag part that can explode and send shrapnel into the passenger cabin is responsible for the global recall of more than 3 million cars manufactured by Honda, Nissan, Toyota and General Motors and will likely lead to more recalls.

The problem was reported to Japanese safety regulators late Wednesday night, but since the part manufactured by Takata Corp. is used internationally, it probably affects more automakers.

"Takata supplies a lot of U.S. manufacturers too," said Michelle Krebs, an analyst with auto information company Edmunds.com.

All of the recalled cars announced so far were produced from 2000 to 2004.

In some of these vehicles, the propellant housed in a metal canister in the system can burn too quickly,  causing the container to explode.  If that happens, metal shards will rocket up into the windshield and ricochet down onto the passenger's feet.

Normally, gasses from the propellant fill up the airbag, which protects the passenger in a crash, said Chris Martin, a Honda Motor Co. spokesman. 

"It is designed to burn at a controlled rate, even at just a fraction of a second," Martin said. "If the propellant burns too quickly, the little holes in the canister are not enough to release all that pressure and the canister can break apart." He said Honda knows of one crash in which a passenger front airbag deployed with too much pressure, causing the casing to rupture. Honda is not aware of any injuries or deaths related to this issue.

Honda told Japanese safety regulators that it will recall 1.1 million vehicles, The total includes 426,000 Civic vehicles from the 2001-03 model years, approximately 43,000 CR-V vehicles from 2002-03, and approximately 92,000 Odyssey vehicles from 2002.

Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 1.7 million vehicles, including about 510,000 in the U.S., including Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia, Tundra and Lexus SC 430 models. Toyota believes that about 170,000 of those vehicles were built with the Takata airbag system that's caused the problem, but will have to inspect all of the cars, said Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman.

Toyota knows of five reports of faulty airbag deployment, including three in the U.S. but said it was not aware of any injuries, Knight said.

"The airbags are not inadvertently deploying, these were all in crashes," Knight said.

Nissan Motor Co. recalled 480,000 vehicles globally, but was still determining how many in North America. The models recalled in Japan include the Cube and Maxima, both sold in the U.S.

General Motors Co. said it would recall about 55,000 Pontiac Vibes from the 2003 model year sold in the U.S. and Canada.

GM has discontinued the Pontiac line, so Vibe customers will be taken care of at other GM dealerships, said Alan Adler, a GM spokesman.

Mazda Motor Corp. said it recalled 20,000 vehicles, but less than 200 in the U.S. The affected cars include the Mazda6 and RX-8.

Ford Motor Co. said it was looking into the issue to see if it would have to recall any vehicles. Chrysler Group said it was not affected by the Takata airbag issue.

Toyota has recalled more than 10 million cars in recent years to fix a variety of problems and was fined by U.S. regulators for not making the moves rapidly enough. Since then, automakers have been very quick about recalling cars, Krebs said.

"They don't want to be caught dragging their feet like Toyota, but I am concerned that within the flood of recalls consumers won't pay attention to the important ones," Krebs said.

"This is an important issue, consumers should get the repair made," Krebs said.