BERLIN (AFP) - German luxury carmaker BMW has issued a recall of 220,000 vehicles because of a defect in Japanese-made airbags installed over a decade ago, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

The flawed airbags made by Takata Corp had several weeks ago sparked the recall of more than three million cars made by Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda.

BMW's affected cars were 3-Series models, including sedans, coupes and other types, produced between December 2001 and March 2003. "We have been informed by the supplier that there could be a problem with this airbag," spokesman Bernhard Santer told AFP.

"We have never had a problem ... It is a precaution to ensure the safety of our clients." The spokesman said fixing the problem would take about one hour in a workshop and would be free of charge.