The recall will affect the Mazda 3 and the Mazda 5 manufactured in Japan from 2007 to 2009. Currently, Mazda has filed recalls for 215,000 vehicles in the United States and more than 10,000 in China. The recalls will also extend to Europe and Australia.

The recall comes about a year after Mazda started fixing vehicles in Japan for the same problem. But Mazda told the NHTSA that since the “occurrence rate was low” in the United States it issued only a technical service bulletin to dealers telling them how to fix the problem.

So far, three accidents related to the defect have been reported in the United States. None of these accidents resulted in death or injury.

Mazda says the problem is that rust can form inside a high-pressure pipe in the power steering system and allow particles to enter the motorized power steering pump, causing it to shut down to prevent the pump from overheating.

The automaker said it would begin to notify affected owners of the recall in September and send notices to all owners by February.