Toyota and rival Nissan on Wednesday announced the recall of about 6.5 million vehicles globally in the latest chapter of an exploding airbag crisis linked to at least five deaths.

The world's biggest automaker said its recall of five million vehicles affected 35 models globally produced between March 2003 to November 2007, while Nissan said its recall of 1.56 million vehicles worldwide was also due to a defect in airbags made by embattled supplier Takata.