- Feb 10, 2007
- 2,856
- 2,425
- 5,213
Wow, is this recall month or what? After the power window recall which by the way does affect some models in Malaysia, Honda is now recalling certain vehicles produced in 2001 and 2002 for a defect in the driver’s SRS airbag. Honda Malaysia has quickly issued a press statement clarifying that the airbag recall does not affect any Honda Malaysia cars.
Here’s the problem, and it’s a long story indeed. Some of the inflator propellant (the gas used to inflate the airbag) 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.
Honda has identified the cause of the problem to be excessive moisture intake by the inflator propellant within the inflator. This was back in 2008 and Honda has already issued a recall for over 4,000 units in US and Canada. However further analysis revealed that there were additional incidents involving vehicles outside of the range of the original recall. Thus Honda issued a second recall on the 29th of July 2009. Units affected in the second recall are just over half a million units, including 1,532 units in Japan and over 15,000 other cars outside Japan, US and Canada.
But that’s not all – it was later 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. Honda concluded 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. So Honda decided to expand the recall to include all vehicles using compressed inflator propellant produced with this particular equipment. This affects a further 437,763 units.
The models affected are the Accord, Civic, Acura TL, Cr-V, Odyssey, Pilot, JDM Honda Inspire, JDM Honda Saber, and JDM Honda Lagreat. Now, even though there are no Honda Malaysia cars affected, I am pretty sure there could be a few Honda Lagreat MPVs running around Malaysia, brought in by grey importers. These owners should take note.
Here’s the problem, and it’s a long story indeed. Some of the inflator propellant (the gas used to inflate the airbag) 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.
Honda has identified the cause of the problem to be excessive moisture intake by the inflator propellant within the inflator. This was back in 2008 and Honda has already issued a recall for over 4,000 units in US and Canada. However further analysis revealed that there were additional incidents involving vehicles outside of the range of the original recall. Thus Honda issued a second recall on the 29th of July 2009. Units affected in the second recall are just over half a million units, including 1,532 units in Japan and over 15,000 other cars outside Japan, US and Canada.
But that’s not all – it was later 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. Honda concluded 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. So Honda decided to expand the recall to include all vehicles using compressed inflator propellant produced with this particular equipment. This affects a further 437,763 units.
The models affected are the Accord, Civic, Acura TL, Cr-V, Odyssey, Pilot, JDM Honda Inspire, JDM Honda Saber, and JDM Honda Lagreat. Now, even though there are no Honda Malaysia cars affected, I am pretty sure there could be a few Honda Lagreat MPVs running around Malaysia, brought in by grey importers. These owners should take note.
