It was still unclear how the decision by Japanese carmakers to recall 3.4 million vehicles would affect Maltese owners of the models in question, Transport Malta has said.

The recall by Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda is the largest since Toyota called in seven million cars in October and is due to a fault in airbags supplied by Takata Corp.

Manfred Galea, Honda’s local representative, said 56,195 vehicles had been affected across Europe with 45 vehicles purchased in Malta expected to require alterations.

Toyota’s local representative, Jonathan Cremona, indicated as many as 200 vehicles could be affected, with the number rising once imported cars were included.

He invited Toyota owners to contact the local representatives if their vehicle was manufactured between 2000 and 2003.

The recall includes Toyota’s Camry and Corolla and the Nissan Maxima and Honda Civic.

Local representatives of Nissan and Mazda urged customers of models made between 2000 and 2003 to contact them.