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.
Countries, models, number of vehicles subject to the recall:
<table style="height: 179px;" border="2" cellspacing="0" width="600"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td bgcolor="#ddd9c3" height="33">Country </td><td bgcolor="#ddd9c3">Model</td><td bgcolor="#ddd9c3"># of Unit(thousands)</td><td bgcolor="#ddd9c3">Recall Notification
(local time)</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td height="17">U.S.A.</td><td>Accord, Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot, CL</td><td>378</td><td>February 9, 2010</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td height="16">Canada</td><td>Accord, Civic, TL, CR-V, Odyssey</td><td>41</td><td>February 9, 2010</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td height="16">Japan</td><td>Inspire, Saber, Lagreat</td><td>4</td><td>February 10, 2010</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td height="17">Others</td><td>--</td><td>13</td><td> -</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="4" height="16"> Total: Approximately 437 thousands units </td></tr></tbody></table>
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.<!--more-->
*chemical substance which generates gas to inflate the airbag
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)
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.
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.
