Being the last one in line isn’t always the best feeling. That may have been the case for BMW after it was the last automaker to not issue a nationwide recall of vehicles equipped with Takata-produced airbags that may spew shrapnel at passengers upon deployment. Now, bowing to pressure from federal regulators, the manufacturer plans to recall some 140,000 cars from across the United States.

The Detroit News reports that BMW will recall 140,000 model year 2004 to 2006 BMW 3 Series vehicles that may contain the defected airbags.

Previously, BMW recalled about 11,000 cars in areas of high-humidity including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

An official with BMW tells The Detroit News that although BMW vehicles have not been included in any incidents in which pieces of metal shot out at passengers or drivers upon airbag deployment, the company would comply with NHTSA’s request to recall vehicles.

BMW was the last of five automakers urged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to initiate a nationwide recall of potentially affected vehicles.

Earlier this month, Mazda and Honda announced they would take their recalls nationwide. Honda’s expanded recall covered 2.6 million vehicles in the U.S., while Mazda’s covered about 330,000 cars.

Ford followed suit last week by recalling 500,000 additional vehicles with Takata airbags across the nation and Chrysler announced over the weekend that it would recall 3.3 million affected vehicles in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Back in November, NHTSA urged car manufacturers and parts supplier Takata to initiate nationwide recalls of defective airbags.

Officials with the agency said at the time that the decision to call for an expanded recall was based on NHTSA’s evaluation of a recent driver’s side airbag failure in a vehicle outside the current regional recall area. The incident involved a 2007 Ford Mustang in North Carolina.

Investigators with NHTSA say that all other incidents of Takata airbag ruptures have occurred in areas of the regional recall.

While all the affected automakers have officially expanded their recalls, Takata has firmly refused the same suggestion from NHTSA.

Shortly after NHTSA’s request, officials with Takata said during a congressional hearing that they wouldn’t initiate a national recall, in part because they don’t believe that NHTSA has the power to order such an initiative and because testing hasn’t shown what’s really behind the issue.

It was previously reported that Takata uses an unusual chemical explosive – ammonium nitrate – for the chemical’s ability to make airbags inflate in a matter of milliseconds. Since then the company notified NHTSA of a change in its chemical compound.

In all, 10 automakers have now recalled more than 14.6 million vehicles with Takata airbags since 2013.

BMW expands Takata air bag recall [The Detroit News]

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