Eight foreign car brands will recall a combined 73,512 vehicles in South Korea due to defective components.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Thursday that Mercedes-Benz will recall 742 cars in three different models including C200 Kompressor equipped with Takata airbags. The deadly airbags that have caused at least 20 deaths and 200 injuries worldwide due to explosion led the Japanese manufacturer Takata Corp. to bankruptcy. The German carmaker has become the latest to join the recall movement conducted by global automakers on tens of millions of vehicles.

Mercedes will recall total 47,695 units of 64 different models to replace faulty parts including the airbags and communication system software, the ministry said.

Porsche Korea plans to recall 3,889 cars of five variants, including 2,315 units of two models to replace the lock bracket on the front hood that could cause a fire. Another 1,573 cars including Panamera model will also be subject to the recall for faulty dashboard software.

The recall list also includes 21,964 vehicles from 34 different models manufactured by six firms including BMW and Renault Samsung due to defective parts, the ministry said.

By Choi Hee-seok and Choi Mira

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