The affected models, Cruze, Trax and Orlando, had been assembled in Vietnam between 2014 and 2018 by General Motors (GM).

GM sold its Vietnamese operations to VinFast in 2018, and the latter is the distributor of the American cars in Vietnam now.

The defective vehicles have airbags manufactured by Japan’s Takata that do not adequately keep out moisture. When the vehicle has an accident and the airbag system is activated, depending on the circumstances, the gas engine can create too much pressure, leading to the possibility of inflators cracking or rupturing. The rupture could spray metal fragments and injure or kill vehicle occupants.

VinFast will carry out the recall and fix the fault, which it has said could take around two hours. The recall will go on for two years.

VinFast also recalled 7,584 Chevrolet vehicles manufactured in 2010-13 with faulty airbags in May last year.

Recalling vehicles for faulty Takata airbags has become one of the biggest safety recalls in the global auto industry.

There have been some 100 million recalls for inflators by 19 major automakers.

Rival company Key Safety Systems, owned by China's Ningbo Joyson Electronic, acquired Takata for $1.6 billion.