Honda is nearly doubling the number of vehicles it will recall due to defective airbags, a problem that it acknowledges being linked to at least one death and 12 incidents.
The problem, according to the maker’s top American executive, John Mendel, is that the safety devices can deploy with more force than intended when triggered by an accident.
“The air bag produces excessive internal pressure, and there’s a risk some of metal shards coming through. That could cause injury,” said Mendel.
The problem was first dealt with by a November 2008 recall of 4,600 Honda Accords and Civics, but in July of last year the automaker added another 440,000 vehicles, expanding the list of Accords and Civics subject to the recall and adding certain versions of the Acura TL.
Owners with vehicle safety complaints should report them to the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. Have your VIN number in front of you when you call.
The latest move adds another 378,758 Honda products to the recall list, including still more Accords and Civics from the 2001 and 2002 model-years, as well as additional Acura TLs. And, for the first time, some Odyssey minivans and CR-V crossover vehicles are on the repair list.
Honda said it will release further details on the recall on Wednesday.
The news from the maker is likely to place even further scrutiny on Japanese auto manufacturers, a group that once enjoyed a reputation for producing seemingly bullet-proof products. Honda, analysts such as Dave Sargent, of J.D. Power and Associates, warn that Honda could be could up in the broad stroke concerns raised by Toyota’s stream of safety-related problems.
On Tuesday, the world’s largest maker announced plans to recall 440,000 of its flagship vehicle, the Prius hybrid, along with the recently-launched Lexus HS250h hybrid, due to problems with the brakes on 2010 models. (TheDetroitBureau.com, meanwhile, is reporting that there are growing concerns about brake issues with early Prius models, as well.)
The Toyota situation was supposed to be taken up on Capitol Hill, on Tuesday, but hearings were cancelled due to the heavy snows that have crippled Washington, DC and other parts of the Northeast.
