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TOKYO (AP) -- Mazda Motor Corp. is recalling 12,235 passenger cars in two models in Japan over an airbag defect, the Transport Ministry said Thursday. Mazda Motor will also implement the service program for about 19,000 vehicles of the same models sold abroad in accordance with each respective country's safety regulations, said Transport Ministry official Takuhiro Kodama. Subject to recall in Japan are 10,554 Primacy and 1,611 Atenza models, as well as 71 vehicles under the "Ixion" model by U.S. automaker Ford, Kodama said. The vehicles involved were produced between March 22, 1999, and July 19, 2002. The Hiroshima-based Motor is 33 percent owned by Ford Motor Co. Because a foreign object and improper formation material were mixed in the process of manufacturing, a circuit inside the control unit of an airbag could break and unfold suddenly in worst case, Kodama said. Kodama said there were three injures in Japan due to an airbag defect. It was not immediately known whether there are any injuries abroad, he said. Of about 19,000 Premacy and Atenza models sold aboard, about 8,200 vehicles were exported to Germany, 2,200 vehicles in Britain and the remaining 8,600 vehicles elsewhere