The three largest German automakers said they will recall 2.5 million vehicles in the US equipped with Takata Corp air bags, the latest moves in a long-running safety crisis involving the Japanese automotive supplier.

On Wednesday, Volkswagen AG said it would recall 850,000 vehicles and BMW said it would recall 840,000 vehicles. That followed Tuesday's announcement by Daimler AG that it was recalling 840,000 vehicles.

The vehicles to be recalled have Takata-made air bag inflators that the Japanese supplier declared defective last month, affecting 5.1 million vehicles in the US. The recalls by the German automakers bring the announced vehicle recalls to the total outlined by Takata.

These recalls involve newer model-year vehicles than previous ones involving Takata. The BMW recalls include one 2015 model.

The recalls mark the latest expansion of a safety crisis over defective Takata air bags that began in 2009. Some 24 million US vehicles involving about 28 million Takata air bag inflators have been recalled.

Earlier, Honda Motor Co recalled 2.23 million US vehicles in the most recent Takata expansion. Ford Motor Co has recalled 361,000 Ranger pickup trucks and Mazda Motor Corp nearly 20,000 B-Series trucks.

The recalls by the German companies were limited to the US market. Daimler, VW and BMW each said they are not aware of any air bag failures in their vehicles.

The most recent recalls were prompted in part by the December death of the driver of a Ford Ranger pickup, as well as new tests conducted on suspected faulty air bags. Ten deaths worldwide and nine in the United States have been linked to Takata's air bag inflators, all but one involving a Honda model.

Most of Daimler's vehicles involved are from its Mercedes-Benz brand.

Daimler said it would take a charge of €340 million ($383 million) to cover the cost of the recall. It will account for this by revising its 2015 financial results published last week, lowering net profit to €8.7 billion ($9.86 billion) and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to €13.2 billion ($14.9 billion), from €8.9 billion ($10.08 billion) and €13.5 billion ($15.29 billion) respectively.

VW's recalls include its main Volkswagen brand with 680,000 recalled vehicles and its luxury Audi brand with 170,000 vehicles recalled.

VW said its US recalls include 2006 to 2010 model year Passat sedans and wagons made in Germany; 2012-2014 Eos as well as Passats made in the US; 2010-2014 Golf and Jetta SportWagen; and 2009-2014 Volkswagen CC. - Reuters