2000 Honda Prelude on 2040-cars

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Honda accused of not reporting all airbag problems

The Takata airbag recall that has afflicted a number of automakers may have just taken a very bad turn for Honda, which has already recalled over one million vehicles. Clarence Ditlow and the Center for Auto Safety have accused the Japanese manufacturer of failing to report two "injury-and-death" incidents. To determine just what happened, the company has initiated a third-party audit.
According to Bloomberg, CAS claims Honda failed to report fatalities in 2009 and 2013, a point Honda doesn't seem to contest, indicating that it didn't report so-called "verbal claims."
"It is our understanding that some manufacturers choose to include these types of verbal claims, and that these constitute the majority of the injury-and-death claims that they report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," the company told Bloomberg via email. "We believe this practice accounts for the vast majority of the difference between the total number of injury-and-death claims reported by Honda compared to certain other manufacturers."

Honda shifts CR-V production to Canada as UK focuses on Civic

Honda is reshuffling its global production in a somewhat bizarre way. Under the newly announced plans, the European version of the CR-V will no longer be assembled locally, but the region will become the hub for some Civic production. As part of this new strategy, Honda's Canadian manufacturing operations will become responsible for building the next-gen version of the European CR-V. Once assembled, the popular crossovers will then be exported back across the Atlantic. The investment to make these changes comes from 875 million Canadian dollars ($690 million) already allocated by Honda for expansion there. The current European CR-V (pictured above) is made in Swindon, England, and with that model moving to Canada, the site fulfills the second part of this production shuffle. Honda will invest 200 million pounds ($300 million) there to make the location a global production hub specifically for the next-gen Civic five-door hatchback. The examples made in the UK will be not just for Europe but also will be "exported to key global markets," according to the automaker. Honda now confirms one of those markets to be the US, and a recent rumor suggests the company sending over around 40,000 of them a year. Related Video: HONDA OF CANADA MFG. EXPANDS EXPORT DESTINATIONS WITH EUROPEAN SPEC CR-V ALLISTON, ON (March 30, 2015) – Honda of Canada Mfg. (HCM), a division of Honda Canada Inc., announced today that it will produce the next generation CR-V model for the European market. This will be the first time that HCM will export vehicles to Europe. Today's news follows Honda's recent announcement that it will invest $857M in its Canadian facilities, as it prepares for production as the global lead plant for the next generation Honda Civic, Canada's best-selling passenger car for the past 17 years. "Honda is thrilled to once again have good news for automotive manufacturing in Canada by broadening our production portfolio to include exports to the European market," said Jerry Chenkin, President and CEO of Honda Canada Inc. "This expansion decision was made possible due to our deep, mature, and rich talent pool with nearly 30 years of automotive manufacturing experience. We are so proud that our Canadian associates have the reputation of producing high quality vehicles that will meet the needs of the discerning European customer." The announcement further solidifies Honda's already deep roots and commitment to Canada.

Honda's Euro Civic hatch getting facelift, too

Honda's freshening of the Civic line isn't just limited to the North American market, as proven by these images of the Euro-spec model testing on Her Majesty's motorways.
According to our spies, this new Civic boasts a heavily restyled front fascia, with headlights and taillights that draw a quite a bit of inspiration from the Civic Type R Concept from the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.
The restyled front fascia has a sportier lean, with more significant lateral intakes and what looks like a slightly larger lower intake. It's more difficult to make out details on the rear of the car, although we can spot a modest little diffuser and a larger integrated spoiler.