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Honda recalling 100k more vehicles to replace airbag inflators

Additional recalls surrounding Takata's faulty airbag inflators seemed to be at an end, and the major issue was getting all of the affected models promptly repaired. However, Honda is voluntarily expanding its safety recall to include another 100,000-plus vehicles. The automaker is adding 88,549 examples of the 2008 Pilot, 10,868 units of the 2004 Civic and 5,454 vehicles of the 2001 Accord to replace the driver's side front inflator. According to documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Honda found these vehicles through its process of matching Takata part numbers to individual VINs to make sure every potentially affected vehicle was found. Both model years of the Accord and Civic are already included in the campaign, but the 2008 Pilot is new to the list. The company is clear in its announcement that there are no reports of inflator ruptures in the crossover, though. This expansion takes Honda's airbag-related recall total to roughly 5.5 million vehicles in the US. When these airbags rupture, they can spray metal fragments with enough force to injure or even kill people. The automaker also has an advertising campaign to get the word out to owners that having this problem repaired is vital to their safety. Statement by American Honda Regarding Expansion of National Safety Improvement Campaign: Driver's Front Airbag Inflator Supplied by Takata Mar 19, 2015 - TORRANCE, Calif. 2008 Pilot and certain 2001 Accord and 2004 Civic vehicles added under new NHTSA campaign number 15V-153 Honda will voluntarily expand its December 2014 national Safety Improvement Campaign (NHTSA No. 14V-351) affecting certain 2001 through 2011 Honda and Acura vehicles in the United States to include 88,549 Pilot vehicles from the 2008 model year, 10,868 specific 2004 Civic vehicles and 5,454 specific 2001 Accord vehicles. While certain 2001 Accord and 2004 Civic vehicles were previously included in 14V-351, no 2008 Pilot models were included before this addition. Honda has not received any claims of airbag inflator rupture in 2008 Pilot models. Since this expansion of the national Safety Improvement Campaign is taking place in a new year, it will be identified separately by the NHTSA as No. 15V-153, but the same repair, replacement of the driver front airbag inflator, free of charge, will apply to these additional vehicles nationwide. With this expansion, a total of approximately 5.5 million vehicles will be covered by 14V-351 and 15V-153 combined.

Honda claims another injury from Takata airbag failure

Honda has confirmed another injury caused by a faulty Takata airbag inflator in one of its vehicles. The incident occurred on March 20 in Florida to the driver of a 2003 Honda Civic, and according to Reuters, police and hospital reports indicated that shrapnel from the ruptured inflator struck the person in the neck. Honda has indicated that the owner was notified about the airbag at least four times – three of those for the driver's side. The mailings dated back as far as September 29, 2014, and as late as March 23, 2015, which was three days after the crash. The vehicle was eligible to receive new inflators on both sides. In March, Honda issued a high-profile warning to owners in newspapers and on the radio to get their cars fixed. The automaker also broadened its recall during the month to include 100,000 more vehicles, which brought the US total to around 5.5 million. So far, the faulty inflators have been linked to at least six deaths and 139 injuries. In one case, a woman in Florida has filed a lawsuit alleging that she became a quadriplegic when a piece of shrapnel in a 2001 Civic struck her in the neck, and an incident in Texas reportedly caused a man's death. Related Video: Statement from American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Re: Confirmed Rupture of Takata Airbag Inflator in Florida April 13, 2015 American Honda has confirmed that the Takata driver's airbag inflator ruptured in the crash of a 2003 Honda Civic on March 20, 2015 in Florida. This crash resulted in an injury to the driver of the vehicle. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the driver and his family during this difficult time. The legal representative of the owner involved in this incident has acknowledged in comments to media that a March 23, 2015 mailed notification was received by the owner. However, multiple mailed notices previously went to the same address, and none of these notices were returned as undeliverable. The vehicle involved in this crash is included in a recall affecting the passenger's front airbag inflator (14V-700) and a safety improvement campaign affecting the driver's front airbag inflator (14V-351), and our records indicate that neither of the necessary repairs was ever completed. American Honda has sent one mailed notice related to the passenger front inflator and three mailed notices related to the driver front inflator, the earliest of which was sent on 9/29/2014.

Honda celebrates 30th anniversary of the NSX with a look back at how it began

In 1989, the baseball-loving Japanese dipped their bats in pine tar and came to the U.S. to take gigundous swings. That single year launched five legends: Lexus LS400, Infiniti Q45, Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo, Mazda MX-5 Miata, and Acura NS-X concept. The Chicago Auto Show (!) hosted the global debuts of the Mazda and the Acura. While Mazda celebrates the bygones with the 30th Anniversary Miata, Acura's reminiscing with a look at how the NSX — a car Motor Trend described in 1990 as, "[The] best sports car the world has ever produced. Any time. Any place. Any price ..." — came to be. The development yearbook opened in 1984, a year after Honda returned to Formula One as an engine supplier for the Spirit team, and for the second Williams chassis in the last race of the season. For the first time in the automaker's history, Honda wanted to build a production car with the engine behind the cabin, one that would demonstrate Honda's engineering prowess and "deeply rooted racing spirit." The sports car would also serve as a halo for the not-yet-launched Acura brand. The engineering team built the first test vehicle in February 1984 on the bones of a first-generation Honda Jazz. After four years of formal development, Honda parked the NS-X Concept in a conference room at Chicago's Drake Hotel in February 1989. This is where the media would meet the red wonder before the public show-stand debut. The F-16 Fighting Falcon-inspired coupe was built on the world's first all-aluminum monocoque, and its SOHC V6 ran with titanium connecting rods. Before the press conference, then-Honda president Tadashi Kume got in the NS-X, started the engine, and revved to the 8,000-rpm redline — a noise felt by everyone in the adjacent conference room attending a Ford press conference. Honda's PR man at the time yelled, "Mr. Kume, stop it! They're gonna hear this!" When Kume got out, he asked Honda engineers present why they didn't put their new VTEC technology in the NS-X. (What's Japanese for, "Why didn't the VTEC kick in, yo?!") They told him VTEC had been created for four-cylinder engines. Kume told them to work on a V6 application. More suggestions came from journos who drove the early prototypes at Honda's Tochigi R&D Center, who said the NS-X "could use more power." The development team had grabbed the SOHC V6 from the Acura Legend for the NS-X concept, and it put out 160 horsepower in the luxury sedan.