The worldwide recall follows news that a German magazine is about to publish a report that the airbags could inflate spontaneously, threatening to cause accidents. The magazine documented at least 60 cases of this happening.
'The process is already under way in some countries,' said a Peugeot spokesman. The faulty devices were fitted to 206s made between June 1999 and 14 March this year. The problem is not thought to affect the operation of the airbags in case of an accident.
Airbags are thought to have saved thousands of lives and are becoming standard features on many cars, but concerns have grown recently that they could have caused several deaths. The British government is to fund research into their safety after recent disclosures of at least two cases where motorists died after their airbags inflated.
Christella Sergi, 69, died in October, 1998, when the airbag of her Vauxhall Corsa inflated, only 10 months after Jennifer Reichardt, 47, was killed when her Rover 400 was in a head-on collision with another car.
Reichardt's father George 78, from Leicester, said the funding for the research was welcome but 'long overdue'.
'When Jennifer died we knew it was because of her airbag. At her inquest, the coroner gave an open verdict. He could not be sure it was an accident,' he said.
The recall is not the first involving faulty airbags. Ford ordered back nearly 124,000 cars in 1998.
