Honda, Toyota recall 6M vehicles

DETROIT (AP) — Two different air bag glitches have forced Toyota and Honda to recall over 6 million vehicles worldwide, and both problems present different dangers to motorists.

The Toyota recall affects about 3.4 million vehicles globally and is being done because the air bags may not inflate in a crash. The cars have air bag control computers made by ZF-TRW that are vulnerable to electrical interference and may not signal the bags to inflate.

The problem could affect as many as 12.3 million vehicles in the U.S. made by six companies. It’s possible that as many as eight people were killed when air bags didn’t inflate. U.S. safety regulators are investigating.

Honda’s recall covers about 2.7 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada with Takata air bag inflators. But they’re a different version than the ones blamed for 25 deaths worldwide. Still, it’s possible the air bags could blow apart a metal canister and hurl shrapnel at drivers and passengers.

Both recalls were announced Tuesday.

N.J. law requires severance pay

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey has become the first state to guarantee severance pay for mass layoffs, according to the bill’s sponsors and the governor’s office.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed legislation Tuesday that requires companies with 100 or more full-time employees to pay them a week’s pay for each year of service during a mass layoff, plant closing or transfer resulting in 50 or more workers losing their jobs. The law also increases the minimum number of days notice from 60 to 90 for such events.

The legislation was motivated by last year’s closing of Toys R Us, which cost 2,000 employees their jobs in New Jersey. Two of the private equity firms that owned the retail giant eventually established a severance fund.

“When these corporate takeover artists plunge the companies into bankruptcy, they walk away with windfall profits and pay top executives huge bonuses, but the little guys get screwed,” said state Sen. Joe Cryan, a Democrat who was a co-sponsor.

Cryan said he hopes companies will think twice about whether layoffs should be “their go-to solution for every problem.”

The new law has its critics. The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, which lobbies state government on behalf of businesses, said the law will take effect just as other requirements like a higher minimum wage and increased taxes are hitting.