Big News this week was the incredible confirmation – from NHTSA – of a 5.1m recall of Honda/Acura cars with airbags with Takata inflators. It had been flagged up earlier by the automaker but then came the report that neither supplier or US regulator are quite sure of the safety of up to 3m replacement parts.
Imagine being the owner of a car made by Honda, Takata’s biggest customer. For now. You’ve seen the recall horror stories on TV – people killed or seriously injured by shrapnel fired at them when the inflator exploded as the airbag inflated, in one case in a low speed parking lot bump. The letter arrived, you took the car in, the airbag was replaced and now, maybe it’s still not ok? Imagine being the dealer. You just don’t know for sure. Honda has, however, worked hard on reassurance, telling NHTSA an unspecified number of owners who had replacement parts installed since 12 September, 2014, “received an inflator of a different design, and therefore are not included in this recall”. Honda told a news agency it had installed 1.2m driver’s side replacement air bags since 12 September, using kits assembled by Takata using inflators “of a different, contemporary design” made by Takata and other suppliers. Certainly, many people seem to be working hard to make things right – 1.2m is a lot of replacements – but the uncertainty looks like remaining for a while yet.
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Elsewhere, we learned that Volvo’s shift of the redesigned XC90 upmarket (into Range Rover or even Rolls-Bentley territory, I have heard it said, at least on cabin design, quality and materials) appears to be paying off, at least at home in Sweden. Speaking of Sweden, and a bit like the Takata saga, NEVS, The Company Formerly Known As Saab, simply won’t go quietly. Latest is a business plan to restart (again) Trollhattan production and build a second plant in China. We’ll watch, it’s always great if an auto minnow survives against the odds in a school of multinational sharks.
We’ve recently started on a series of short, punchy ‘analysis snapshots’. Latest out this week is Matthew Beecham’s review of some novel and obscure wiper blade innovations including one technology that could eliminate the wiper altogether. (I’m old enough to remember vacuum wipers and the Vauxhall ones driven by cable from the camshaft.) More? Let Beecham tell you how the rearview mirror has been transformed over the last decade into a high-tech electronic module. Glazing and doors next week.
Also well worth a look: our Asian markets correspondent Tony Pugliese on the rise of Malaysia’s Perodua at Proton’s expense.
It’s looking like something approaching summer has finally reached the British Isles. Have a nice weekend.
