Mazda recalls over half a million vehicles for power steering defect.

Japanese car maker Mazda is recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles around the world because they could lose power steering without warning.the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration records show the Mazda recall stems from a customer complaint in the Japanese market in March 2008.models affected are the Mazda 3 and 5 MPV. Mazda said the vehicles under recall could experience a "sudden loss" of power steering, increasing the risk of a crash Mazda warned dealers worldwide to monitor vehicles for the problem . The notification did not detail any incidents.

The defect occured because rust could break lose from a high-pressure pipe, straining the power steering pump and causing the system to shut down, the Japanese automaker said.

At the time Mazda warned dealers worldwide to monitor vehicles for the problem but did not issue a safety recall because the problem remained relatively rare.

Earlier in 2010, however, Mazda said it realised that more US owners were experiencing the loss of power steering and in June, the NHTSA opened a preliminary investigation of the problem.

Mazda also said it was facing a shortage of parts to repair recalled vehicles at dealers.

The Mazda recall comes as the automaker’s larger rival Toyota faces continuing scrutiny of its handling of safety recalls. It was fined a record $16.4-million by the NHTSA, the maximum then allowed, for moving too slowly to recall vehicles with defective accelerator pedals. source:reuters/AP.