Honda Cars & Recall 2014: Airbag Issues Affect More Than 2 Million Vehicles
A potential faulty airbag system is forcing Honda to recall over two million vehicles worldwide. Honda is concerned the airbags could over-inflate, explode and possibly shoot shrapnel at drivers and passengers.
The airbags came from Takata Corp. The second-largest safety parts maker created the manufactured the airbags between 2000-2002.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked for the Takata inflators to be replaced.
This is Honda's second recall for the same issue. In April 2013, they had the same recall.
The recall affects 13 different types of Honda vehicles including the popular Accord sedan and the Fit subcompact car. In North America, the models affected are the Civic, the CR-V SUV and Odyssey mini-van and the Element SUV.
Two deaths have been linked to faulty airbags in Hondas. Those occurred in 2009 in the United States. Honda says it knows of 41 cases of ruptured airbags.
Other Japanese carmakers Toyota, Mazda and Nissan also have the Takata airbags and are recalling some of their vehicles as well.
After Monday's recall, the number of recalls involving the Takata airabgs over the past five years has surpassed 10 million vehicles.
Takata blamed the faulty airbag inflators on poor record keeping. They said the airbag inflators shouldn't have been able to make it into the vehicles. The company also blames humid and hot weather for causing the airbag issues.
"We currently believe the high levels of absolute humidity in those states [Florida, Puerto Rico] are important factors; and as a result our engineers are analyzing the impact that humidity may have on the potential for an inflator malfunction," Takata CEO Shigehisa Takada said.
With multiple recalls by General Motors this year, Japanese carmakers have mostly avoided poor publicity in 2014.
Takata believes it also shipped the faulty airbag inflaters to Chrysler, BMW and Ford. The carmakers will have to decide if they want to conduct a recall.
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