Honda Motor Co. announced Tuesday a recall of 772,000 Honda and Acura vehicles in the United States for defective front passenger seat air bag inflators. The Tokyo-based Honda adds these vehicles to the list of earlier recalls. About 10.7 million Honda and Acura vehicles in the U.S. are subject to a recall related to Takata airbag inflator ruptures. Some vehicles involve both a driver and passenger side airbag inflator, others involve just the passenger side.
Reason for Massive Recall
The recall is due to potentially faulty air bag deflators that could explode in a crash. The rupture could injure people by dispelling metal shrapnel into the passenger compartments. The air bag inflators are made by Takata Corp., a Japanese supplier.
Honda, and the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), has focused specific concern on a subset of these inflators called “Alpha” inflators found in some 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles. The “Alpha” inflators have a huge rupture rate- up to 50%. Due to their age and exposure to heat and humidity over time, these older model inflators are particularly vulnerable to explosion. Exploding shrapnel can cause serious personal injury, or even death, to the vehicle passengers and driver.
What Models are Affected?
The newest list of recalled vehicles is below.
2001-2002 Honda Accord
2001-2002 Honda Civic
2002 Honda CR-V
2002 Honda Odyssey
2003 Honda Pilot
2002-2003 Acura 3.2TL
2003 Acura 3.2CL
A full list of Honda and Acura models and years involved in the recall since its inception can be found on Honda’s website here. http://hondaairbaginfo.com/takata-airbag-inflator-recall-fact-sheet/ Continue reading ›