TOKYO — Honda's quarterly profit slipped 19 per cent as costs related to air-bag recalls eroded the benefits from growing sales.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. reported Friday an October-December profit of 124.1 billion yen ($1 billion).

Sales for the fiscal third quarter edged up 3.4 per cent to 3.617 trillion yen ($30 billion).

Tokyo-based Honda is the biggest customer for Japanese supplier Takata Corp., behind the massive global recalls spanning nearly all the major automakers, over air bag inflators that can explode.

Nine people in the U.S. and 10 worldwide have been killed because of defective air-bag inflators.

Another death has been reported in a crash in which a Takata air bag exploded, but it's unclear whether that was the cause of death.