Tag Archives: Honda

U.S. expands air bag defect probe to 12.3 million vehicles

FILE PHOTO: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) headquarters are seen in Turin, Italy, July 21, 2018. REUTERS/Massimo Pinca

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday it is expanding a probe into potentially defective airbags to 12.3 million vehicles and upgrading it to an engineering analysis, a step required before it can seek to compel recalls.

The agency, known as NHTSA, said the airbags were installed in some vehicles from model years 2010 through 2019 sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Kia Motors Corp, Mitsubishi and Toyota Motor Corp.

They were equipped with an airbag control unit initially produced by TRW Automotive Holdings Corp, which is now owned by ZF Friedrichshafen. The agency said they could fail during a crash.

NHTSA first opened a probe in 2018 of about 400,000 vehicles and said Tuesday it has reports of two crashes and two injuries related to the defect along with one death in a Toyota vehicle.

ZF spokesman John Wilkerson said the company “is committed to motor vehicle safety and is working cooperatively with NHTSA and our customers in the investigation.”

Toyota said it is “cooperating with NHTSA’s engineering analysis. Toyota is also continuing its investigation into this issue and will take any appropriate action.”

At issue is whether the airbag control units may suffer electrical overstress due to harmful signals resulting from a crash, causing them to stop working during such an event. In opening its probe, NHTSA said: “the probability of this occurring appears to be low.”

NHTSA noted on Tuesday that there have recently been two substantial frontal crashes that may be tied to the issue, including the fatal Toyota crash. The agency is looking at whether an “unreasonable risk exists that requires further field action.”

Hyundai, Kia and Fiat Chrysler have previously issued recalls for more than 2.5 million vehicles with the airbag control units in question that might not deploy in crashes.

When it recalled nearly 2 million vehicles for airbag nondeployments with the issue in 2016, Fiat Chrysler said it had reports of three deaths and five injuries that might be related to the defect.

In a statement on Tuesday, Fiat Chrysler said that “when we became aware of this issue in 2016, we responded accordingly. However, we will cooperate fully with NHTSA’s investigation.”

Hyundai and Kia recalled more than 650,000 vehicles for airbag nondeployment concerns in 2018.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)

Honda to recall 1.2 million vehicles in North America to replace Takata airbags

The Honda logo is displayed at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it would recall 1.2 million Honda and Acura vehicles in North America to replace defective Takata airbags on the driver’s side.

The company said https://hondanews.com/channels/corporate-recalls/releases/statement-by-american-honda-regarding-recall-of-takata-desiccated-replacement-driver-front-airbag-inflators it was aware of one injury linked to the defect, which may have caused the airbag to rupture when it was deployed in a crash.

Of the 23 total deaths worldwide linked to faulty Takata airbags, 21 have occurred in Honda vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the recall covers 1.1 million U.S. vehicles and is to replace inflators received “either as a permanent Takata airbag inflator recall replacement or as a service part installed following a crash or problem with the airbag itself.”

Another 100,000 vehicles are being recalled in Canada, Mexico and Central America, Honda said.

The Honda models being recalled include 2001-2007 and 2009 Honda Accord, 2001-2005 Honda Civic, 2002-2007 and 2010-2011 Honda CR-V, 2003-2011 Honda Element, 2007 Honda Fit, 2002-2004 Honda Odyssey, 2003-2008 Honda Pilot, and 2006-2014 Honda Ridgeline.

The Acura models include 2003 Acura 3.2CL, 2013-2016 Acura ILX, 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2002-2003 Acura 3.2TL, 2004-2006 and 2009-2014 Acura TL, 2007-2016 Acura RDX, and 2010-2013 Acura ZDX.

More than 290 injuries worldwide have been linked to Takata inflators that could explode, spraying metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks. In total, 19 automakers are recalling more than 100 million potentially faulty inflators worldwide.

Repairs of the recalled Hondas and Acuras will begin immediately in the United States with replacement parts made by alternate suppliers, Honda said.

Honda became aware of the issue after a Honda Odyssey crash, where the front airbag deployed and injured the driver’s arm.

An investigation later showed that manufacturing issues at Takata’s Mexico facility introduced excessive moisture into the inflator during assembly, leading to the problem.

The total number of recalled inflators is now about 21 million in about 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles that have been subject to recall for replacing Takata front airbag inflators in the United States, the company said.

Automakers in the United States repaired more than 7.2 million defective Takata air bag inflators in 2018, as companies have ramped up efforts to track down parts in need of replacement.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Steve Orlofsky)

Ford urges 2,900 pickup owners to stop driving after new Takata death

A recalled Takata airbag inflator is shown in Miami, Florida in this June 25, 2015 file photo.

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it had confirmed a second death in an older pickup truck caused by a defective airbag inflator of Takata Corp and urged 2,900 owners in North America to stop driving immediately until they can get replacement parts.

The second largest U.S. automaker said it confirmed in late December that a July 2017 crash death in West Virginia in a 2006 Ford Ranger was caused by a defective Takata inflator. It previously reported a similar death in South Carolina that occurred in December 2015.

Ford said both Takata deaths occurred with inflators built on the same day installed in 2006 Ranger pickups. At least 21 deaths worldwide are linked to the Takata inflators that can rupture and send deadly metal fragments inside vehicles. The faulty inflators have led to the largest automotive recall in history. The other 19 deaths have occurred in Honda Motor Co vehicles, most of which were in the United States.

Ford issued a new recall for automobiles that had been previously recalled in 2016.

Of the 391,000-plus 2004-2006 Ranger vehicles recalled at the time, the new recall announced on Thursday affects 2,900 vehicles. These include 2,700 in the United States and nearly 200 in Canada. The new recall will allow for identification of the 2,900 owners in the highest risk pool.

A Mazda Motor Corp spokeswoman said on Thursday the company would conduct a similar recall and stop-drive warning for some 2006 Mazda B-Series trucks, which were built by Ford and are similar to the Ranger.

Japanese auto supplier Takata plans to sell its viable operations to Key Safety Systems, an affiliate of China’s Ningo Joyson Electric Corp, for $1.6 billion.

A Takata spokesman said the company will make all attempts to ensure it can deliver replacement inflators as soon as possible.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged owners to heed Ford’s warning. “It is extremely important that all high-risk air bags are tracked down and replaced immediately,” NHTSA spokeswoman Karen Aldana said.

‘FAILED RECALL’

Ford said it would pay to have vehicles towed to dealerships or send mobile repair teams to owners’ homes and provide free loaner vehicles if needed.

Takata said in June that it has recalled, or expected to recall, about 125 million vehicles worldwide by 2019, including more than 60 million in the United States. Some 19 automakers worldwide are impacted.

Takata inflators can explode with excessive force, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks and have injured more than 200. The defect led Takata to file for bankruptcy protection in June.

In 2017, prosecutors in Detroit charged three former senior Takata executives with falsifying test results to conceal the inflator defect. None have come to the United States to face charges.

Last year, Takata pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was subject to pay a total of $1 billion in criminal penalties in a U.S. court in connection with the recalls.

Automakers have struggled to get enough replacement parts for the massive recalls. A November NHTSA report said about two-thirds of U.S. vehicles recalled have not yet been repaired.

Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday the latest death is evidence of “the very definition of a failed recall” pointing to the earlier Ford death in 2015. NHTSA must do more, he said, to make the recall a priority.

In November, NHTSA rejected a petition from Ford to delay recalling 3 million vehicles with potentially defective airbag inflators to conduct additional testing.

In June 2016, NHTSA warned airbag inflators on more than 300,000 unrepaired recalled 2001-2003 model year Honda vehicles showed a substantial risk of rupturing, and urged owners to stop driving them until getting them fixed. NHTSA said they have as high as a 50 percent chance of a rupture in a crash.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Minami Funakoshi in TOKYO; Editing by Diane Craft and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Toyota expands U.S. Takata air bag recall to 600,000 extra vehicles

The Toyota logo is shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 30, 2017.

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it was expanding its safety recall involving Takata Corp front passenger air bag inflators to cover about 601,300 additional vehicles in the United States.

Takata and its U.S. entity TK Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy in June after it said it was recalling more than 100 million of its air bag inflators worldwide through the end of 2019 because they could inflate with too much force and spray metal fragments.

Air bags with the inflators have been linked to at least 180 injuries and 20 deaths, mostly in the United States including one in Louisiana that was identified last month.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Saturday posted a notice from Takata that said the company would recall another 3.3 million inflators for vehicles from automakers including Toyota, Honda Motor Co, BMW AG, Daimler AG, General Motors Co, Tata Motors Jaguar Land Rover unit and Subaru Corp.

NHTSA said in November that 19 automakers had recalled 46 million inflators in 34 million U.S. vehicles — and by 2019 as many as 70 million U.S. inflators will have been recalled. In June, the agency said only about 35 percent of vehicles recalled have been repaired to date.

In January 2016, Takata agreed to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing and pay $1 billion to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the inflator ruptures.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Brown)