Nissan says to expand U.S. regional recall for Takata air bags

Japan's second-largest automaker has informed the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about its plans to replace passenger-side air bags of the affected Sentras, a spokesman said.

Bloomberg reported earlier the expansion followed a March 21 accident in which a woman was injured from shrapnel in her 2006 Sentra in Louisiana, which is one of the states covered in Nissan's regional recall.

Since 2008, about a dozen automakers have recalled nearly 25 million vehicles equipped with potentially deadly Takata-made air bag inflators, which can explode with too much force and shoot metal shards into occupants.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)