227,000 VWs, Porsches face recall over airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners

Volkswagen and Porsche have to recall around 227,000 cars due to problems with airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners, Germany's Stuttgarter Zeitung said on Thursday.

The newspaper said the Tiguan, Sharan and CC models built in 2015 as well as Porsche 911, Boxster, Cayman and Panamera models from 2015 and 2016. It cited Germany's KBA federal motor authority as saying the cars needed an update to the software of the airbag control units.

Volkswagen said 227,000 VW and Porsche cars were affected, citing possible problems with airbags in some of them and adding that new software needed to be installed.

A spokesman for Porsche said around 23,500 Porsche models could be affected by airbags or seatbelt pre-tensioners triggering even if the vehicle was not involved in an accident. It said the models affected were built in 2015 and 2016 and added that of the vehicles affected, around 3,900 were in Germany.