TOKYO - Mazda Motor Corp. expects to recall more than half a million vehicles worldwide due to power-steering flaws, its largest recall ever, Reuters reported.

The automaker has filed applications with local authorities to recall 215,000 vehicles in the United States and more than 10,000 in China, and now plans to broaden the net to include major export markets such as Europe and Australia, the spokesman said.

The recalls, estimated at 514,000 vehicles, target the Axela and the Premacy, known in some markets as the Mazda3 and the Mazda5, manufactured in Japan from 2007 to 2008.

The vehicles could experience a sudden loss of power steering, increasing the risk of a crash.

The spokesman said there had been three accidents reported in the United States in connection with the defect but no deaths or injuries.

The company said rust could break lose from a high-pressure pipe, straining the power steering pump and causing the system to shut down.

Last year it remedied the problem for models in Japan after issuing an advisory.

Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled more than 10 million vehicles since late last year due largely to problems with unintended acceleration that raised a storm of criticism in the United States.

It was fined a record $16.4 million by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the maximum then allowed, for moving too slowly to recall vehicles with defective accelerator pedals.