Volkswagen recalls 4 million cars, Handelsblatt reports

BERLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - German auto group Volkswagen will recall around 4 million vehicles across four brands in the biggest such action since the Dieselgate scandal, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday.

Some 2.16 million VW models and 700,000 Audi models are to be recalled, according to Germany's KBA road traffic authority.

Handelsblatt reported that the action also included over a million vehicles at Volkswagen's Czech brand Skoda and 200,000 at Spanish brand Seat.

Seat confirmed the number. Skoda had no immediate comment on the report.

In an earlier statement, Volkswagen said customers had been asked to take their vehicles for repair because of the risk of corrosion involving a screw in the steering system. If unchecked, this could compromise the steering's function in the long term.

The company stressed that the recall was a precautionary measure and said the replacement of the screw would take no longer than an hour.

Volkswagen declined to comment on the estimated cost of the recalls.

(Reporting by Rachel More and Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Seythal)