By ALEX P. KELLOGG
Honda Motor Co. said it will recall another roughly 378,000 vehicles to fix potentially faulty airbag systems that are linked to at least one known fatality and 11 injuries in the U.S.
The expanded recall brings to more than 826,000 Honda and Acura vehicles covered by a series of airbag system recalls that began in 2008.
The company said some airbags in its older vehicles deploy with too much pressure, and send metal fragments flying into the car.
The first stage of the recall covered fewer than 4,000 vehicles in the U.S. It was later expanded to roughly 443,000 vehicles in July of last year.
In total, including vehicles sold outside the U.S., Honda had recalled about 510,000 vehicles world-wide to repair the airbag defect as of last July. Executives in the U.S. said a broader global announcement is likely within the coming days.
The affected airbag systems are found primarily in 2001 and 2002 Accords, Civics, Odysseys, CR-Vs and certain Acura models from those years.
John Mendel, American Honda’s executive vice president of sales, said the company’s decision to expand the earlier recall was driven in part by the current concern over safety issues raised by Toyota Motor Corp.’s recent recalls of more than six million vehicles. Toyota now faces questions from lawmakers and regulators about whether it moved swiftly enough to address reports of problems with sudden acceleration in certain vehicles.
“There’s certainly a heightened sensitivity right now to anything to do with recalls,” he said. “We were particularly concerned that this not look like we were trying to duck under the screen.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704820904575055902728458236.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Tags: acceleration, acura models, acura vehicles, airbag systems, airbags, american honda, civics, concern over safety, global announcement, honda, honda motor, honda motor co, metal fragments, million vehicles, problem, recall, safety issues, sudden acceleration, toyota, toyota motor, toyota motor corp, wsj