Honda’s US unit has expanded a previously announced recall of some 2001 and 2002 model-year vehicles to replace the driver’s airbag inflator in an additional 378,758 vehicles. The driver’s airbag inflators in these vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury or fatality.
Honda said it was aware of 12 incidents related to this issue as of February 2010.
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“While Honda was aware of two additional events when the decision to first expand the recall was made in July 2009, we are not aware of any new events that have occurred after July 2009. However, we have concluded that we cannot be completely certain that the driver’s airbag inflator in the vehicles being added to this recall at this time will perform as designed. Therefore, we have decided to add certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic, Odyssey, CR-V, and selected 2002 Acura TL vehicles to this recall,” it said in a statement.
Notification to customers will start this month.
About 16 months ago Honda, informed NHTSA of its plan to conduct a recall on fewer than 4,000 model year 2001 Accord and Civic vehicles to replace the driver’s airbag inflator, based on its analysis of four instances attributed to the cause of airbag deployments that resulted in rupture of the driver’s airbag inflator.
After the original recall in November, 2008, two additional incidents were reported, including one fatality from a vehicle not included in that recall. Ongoing analysis led Honda to recognise the potential for additional vehicles to exhibit this symptom, and in July 2009 Honda expanded that recall to include approximately 440,000 model year 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic and certain 2002 Acura TL vehicles. To date, Honda is aware of a total of 12 incidents.
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By GlobalDataIf the driver’s airbag deploys in an affected vehicle, the driver’s airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure which may cause the airbag inflator casing to rupture, resulting in metal fragments passing through the airbag cushion material and possibly causing injury or fatality to vehicle occupants.
There were two types of manufacturing machines used in pressing the inflator propellant. One propellant manufacturing process allowed Honda to verify that all of the propellant was within specification but it cannot validate the other process to its satisfaction at this time and has decided to recall all inflator assemblies that were not confirmed by 100% automatic inspection during production because it cannot be absolutely certain they will all perform as designed, even though recent testing of units from this production process performed correctly.
Honda UK said vehicles it has sold were not fitted with this type of airbag.
Honda has now recalled close to 950,000 vehicles for the airbag problems linked to one fatality and a total of 11 injuries in the United States.
Honda chief financial officer Yoichi Hojo told Reuters that the recall of 437,763 vehicles would likely cost it an estimated JPY2 to 3bn yen.
Some analysts told Reuters automakers regularly make recalls, and media reactions to recent cases – especially Toyota’s – have been somewhat overblown.
“While the way automakers handle recalls is important, I think people should be careful not to overreact to every single recall,” said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Kazaka Securities.
“Rather, my concern for the auto industry is their earnings for the next financial year, given the absence of the boost they enjoyed from government incentives this year.”
