By David Morgan and Ben Klayman
(Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators on Tuesday said their estimate for the millions of vehicles affected by the Takata air bag recall will likely be revised because cars with two front air bags were double-counted.
Mark Rosekind, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in written testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee that regulators are waiting for automakers to provide information including the number of inflators that must be replaced more than once.
The Obama administration last month said it was doubling the number of vehicles involved to nearly 34 million, making the Takata recall the largest in U.S. history. But a Reuters analysis found the number could prove to be less than half that due to vehicles with more than one air bag.
On Tuesday, Rosekind said there are about 32 million defective inflators on U.S. roads that need to be replaced.
"It is important to note that this number is an estimate and will be refined," he said. "We know that there are almost certainly vehicles that are counted twice."
Rosekind was scheduled to testify about the recall alongside representatives from Takata Corp (T:7312), automakers and the Department of Transportation.
Takata air bag inflators can deploy with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into passenger compartments. They have been linked to at least eight deaths and hundreds of injuries.
A day before Tuesday's hearing, committee Democrats released a report saying the Japanese company may have put profits over safety by halting global safety audits for financial reasons.
In its written testimony, Takata raised the number of air bag inflators that have ruptured in U.S. vehicles to 92 on Tuesday, four more than the 88 "field ruptures" that the Japanese manufacturer reported to U.S. lawmakers only three weeks ago.
Takata said the number of field ruptures now stands at 70 for driver-side inflators and at 22 for passenger-side air bags. On June 2, the company told a House of Representatives panel that the numbers stood at 67 and 21, respectively.
The number of driver-side air bag inflators that have ruptured during ballistic tests has nearly doubled to 16 from nine, though the number of inflators tested has climbed by only half, according to Takata.
Also testifying are Fiat Chrysler (MI:FCHA) (N:FCAU) and Honda Motor Co Ltd (T:7267), which use the Takata airbags in their vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler said in written testimony that it was replacing all driver-side air bag inflators affected by the Takata recall with products from TRW Automotive Inc [TRWTA.UL] as of June 8.