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Honda asked for Takata inflator change without telling Feds

Honda and Takata could be in legal hot water after the automaker requested a design change to the supplier's airbag inflators in 2009 without notifying the government. According to internal documents obtained by Reuters, the updated parts had extra vents to reduce the force directed occupants if a rupture occurs. Automakers generally need to tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about any safety-related changes to their vehicles, but Honda argues to Reuters that the disclosure wasn't necessary in this case. The company wanted the changes to the parts to "protect against the possibility of future manufacturing errors – it was not an acknowledgement of a larger design flaw in the inflators," Honda spokesperson Chris Martin told Reuters. The revised components started going into some Honda models in 2011. However, a jury might not agree with Honda's position, and a lawyer could argue the company had a responsibility to report the alterations. There's already a pending class action lawsuit against automakers and Takata for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and there are many more from individuals. Among those is the case of a pregnant woman in Malaysia who died from a rupturing airbag. An investigation by the Independent Testing Coalition found three factors for the inflators'' rupturing. The use of ammonium nitrate is part of the problem, but the inflator's assembly doesn't keep moisture from reaching the chemical. If a vehicle is in a high humidity area, the danger is even worse. When they combine, these issues make the explosions more likely. Takata allegedly knew about the problem as far back as 2000 but hid the failures. Emails even reportedly showed workers joking about changing the data. Related Video:

Honda MC-? prototype

Honda is less an automaker, it has been said, and more of a motor company that builds vehicles into which to put its engines. That sort of perspective goes a long way towards explaining the mind-boggling diversity of the company's product lineup. The Japanese industrial giant makes lawnmowers, marine engines, robots... even jet aircraft. It's also one of only a handful of companies that makes both cars and motorbikes. We recently had the chance to sample something that falls in between.
It's called MC-β - shorthand for Micro Commuter Beta, which already tells you it's Honda's second stab at the formula. The first Micro Commuter prototype was announced a year prior and, though marginally larger, struck us as a more complete product than its successor. But it'll likely still be a while before the formula is perfected and put into production, and even then it isn't likely to find its way any time soon to Honda's American showrooms - whether those showrooms are selling cars, bikes or ride-on mowers.
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One man's love of vintage Honda motorcycles spawns new museum

In 1977, David Silver got a Honda SS50 moped - it was the last year of unrestricted mopeds for riders just 16 years of age in the UK. That two-wheeler made him a fan, and starting his Honda parts business in 1986 made him a part of the Honda family. He started collecting, with the idea that he'd eventually open a museum. During a visit to another amateur collector's trove in Pennsylvania, the Brit got the chance to purchase the 125 bikes the American had gathered, and his museum aspirations hit the fast-forward button. He's in the process of building a proper home for the bikes in Suffolk, it should open later this year. There will be everything from the first Cub F engine that people could attach to bicycles in 1952, to two examples of the CB92 Benly Super Sport that showed how fast and how good a 125cc bike could be, to the first Fireblade that dropped in 1992 - our CBR 900RR, to the original Honda Dream. Honda says it could be one of the finest collections outside the company's museum in Japan. You can watch Silver tell his story in the video above, and there's more on what's he'll have in an article in Honda's Dream magazine. News Source: Honda Video, Dream magazine via YouTube Honda Motorcycle Classics Videos honda cub