The 2002 Honda Civic is one of the models impacted by the maker's latest airbag recall.
In the latest of a series of steps that has plagued the Japanese maker for several years, Honda announced it will recall more than 470,000 sedans, minivans and crossover-utility vehicles due to defective airbag systems.
The problem could cause potentially serious injuries, the maker acknowledged, and has been linked to such incidents in the past in other vehicles the maker has had to recall for similar issues. In fact, Honda recalled 750,000 other vehicles due to airbag defects earlier this year.
Reports out of Japan indicate other manufacturer may have additional airbag-related recalls to announce this week, possibly covering as many as 3 million vehicles sold worldwide. That could involve Toyota, as well as Honda, according to a Japanese transport ministry official, though it is unclear if – or how many – additional vehicles sold in the U.S. might be impacted.
The latest U.S. Honda recall covers approximately 426,000 subcompact Civic models sold during the 2001 to 2003 model-years, 43,000 CR-V crossovers offered in 2002 and 2003, and another 92,000 Odyssey minivans from the 2002 model-year.
“It is possible that the passenger front airbag inflators in affected vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which may cause the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury,” the maker acknowledged in a statement.
It added that it was “aware” of one crash in which the front airbag deployed too forcefully, though there have been no injuries or deaths related to the issue in the models impacted by the latest recall.
Airbag problems have become a serious embarrassment for Honda – complicating the fact that the maker already is on record as having one of the highest recall totals of any maker operating in the U.S. in recent years.
In January, the Japanese maker ordered the recall of 748,000 Pilot crossovers and Odyssey minivans due to missing rivets that could cause airbags to improperly deploy in an accident. (That figure covered the U.S. market, with another 29,000 of the vehicles recalled in Canada.)
It has experienced a number of earlier recalls for other airbag-related problems that have now added up to millions of vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Japanese ministry of transportation has called for the recall of around 3 million vehicles equipped with airbags produced by mega-auto supplier Takata Corp. because of concerns that a malfunctioning inflator could inadvertently trigger the front seat airbags or deploy the automatic seatbelt restraints.
The cars covered by the recall were produced between 2000 and 2004 and include about 1.73 million Toyota Corolla and Camry models and 137,000 Nissans. Honda, meanwhile, will recall 1.14 million vehicles, including the 570,000 announced for the U.S.
It is not yet clear how broad an impact the problem will have for U.S. Toyota and Nissan owners.