Honda Announces Recall of Driver's SRS Airbag
Tokyo, Feb 10, 2010; Honda has decided to expand a recall related
to a defect in the driver's SRS airbag installed on certain vehicles
produced in 2001 and 2002 and has issued a notification in North America
and Japan. This recall also will be conducted in other affected
regions/countries. The total number of vehicles subject to this expanded
recall is 437,763 units worldwide.
Based on our ongoing
investigation and analysis, we decided to expand the recall, which has
included a total of 514,355 units in North America, Japan and other regions
since November 2008 and June 2009 (July in Japan), although there have been
no incidents of airbag failure reported for vehicles included this time,
since the previous recall notification.
I. Situation
Some of
the inflator propellant* located inside the inflator of the driver's SRS
airbag was defective. As a result, when the driver's airbag is deployed in
the event of an accident, there is a possibility that an abrupt increase in
the inflator's internal pressure may rupture the casing of the inflator and
cause fragments of airbag parts to scatter possibly causing injury to
vehicle occupants.
(*chemical substance which generates gas to inflate
the airbag)
II. Background
First measure
1) As the
result of our investigation based on incidents that occurred in the U.S.
after February 2007, we identified the cause of the problem as excessive
moisture intake by the inflator propellant within the inflator. Based on
this conclusion, in November 2008, we issued a recall notification in the
U.S. and Canada.
*Total: 4,205 units (3,940 units in the U.S., 218
units in Canada, 47 units in Mexico)
Second measure
2) We
continued our analysis as there were additional incidents involving
vehicles outside of the range of the original recall. In order to prevent
the same incidents from occurring in the future, we decided to expand the
range and issued a second recall notification in the U.S. and Canada on
June 30, 2009. A recall notification was issued for the first time in Japan
on July 29, 2009.
* Total: 510,150 units (443,727 units in the U.S.,
49,452 units in Canada, 1,532 units in Japan, 15,439 units in other
counties)
Latest measure
3) As a result of our continued
investigation, we identified that there is a possibility that the defect
occurs when the stamping pressure during the production of the inflator
propellant is not high enough. And we concluded that the fact that adequate
stamping pressure management was not performed for production of the
inflator propellant using a certain stamping machine was the cause of the
problem. Therefore, we decided to expand the recall to include all vehicles
using compressed inflator propellant produced with this particular
equipment.
* Total: 437,763 units (378,758 units in the U.S., 41,685
units in Canada, 4,042 units in Japan, 13,278 units in other
counties)
III. Action to be taken
The inflator in the
driver's SRS airbag of vehicles subject to this recall will be replaced
with a non-defective inflator in all affected
regions/countries.
This expanded recall broadens the scope to
include all compressed inflator propellant which was produced using
equipment that experienced a problem, therefore, based on our
understanding, this action would rule out the possibility of the same
incidents occurring in the future.
IV. Countries, models, number
of vehicles subject to the recall:
Country: U.S.A.
Model: Accord,
Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot, CL
No. of Units (thousands):
378
Recall Notification (local time): February 9, 2010
Country:
Canada
Model: Accord, Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey
No. of Units
(thousands): 41
Recall Notification (local time): February 9,
2010
Country: Japan
Model: Inspire, Saber, Lagreat
No. of
Units (thousands): 4
Recall Notification (local time): February 10,
2010
Country: Others
Model: --
No. of Units (thousands):
13
Recall Notification (local time): --
Total: Approximately 437
thousand units.
* Others: Mexico (9,227 units), Taiwan (1,361 units),
Australia (703 units) etc.
V. Reference: Situation in Japan
-
On July 29, 2009, the first notification (1,532 units: Inspire, Saber)
- On October 19, 2009, 53 service parts were notified.
- On February
10, 2010, the second notification (4,042 units: Inspire, Saber, Lagreat)
and 21 service parts were notified.
- There have been no incidents
involving the vehicles subject to the recall.
Note: All affected
models are made in North America.
About Honda
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is one of the leading
manufacturers of automobiles and power products and the largest manufacture
of motorcycles in the world. Honda has always sought to provide genuine
satisfaction to people worldwide. The result is more than 120 manufacturing
facilities in 30 countries worldwide, producing a wide range of products,
including motorcycles, ATVs, generators, marine engines, lawn and garden
equipment and automobiles that bring the company into contact with over 19
million customers annually. For more information, please visit http://world.honda.com
.