Honda Recalls Another 438,000 Vehicles for Airbag Problems
Feb. 11, 2010 – The Toyota Motor Corporation isn’t the only Japanese automaker dealing with a massive vehicle recall. Officials for the Honda Motor Company today announced an additional recall of 438,000 vehicles due to concerns over potentially faulty airbags.
Vehicles covered by the latest recall by Honda are the 2001 and 2001 Honda Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey models and the 2002 Honda Acura TL. The 438,000 vehicles recalled are in addition to some 646,000 Honda Fit models recalled two weeks ago.
The recalls have been issued to fix faulty airbag inflators, which sometimes apply too much pressure when inflating airbags during an accident and result in the inflating mechanism to break apart and sending potentially lethal shrapnel flying into the passenger compartment. The problem has been experienced in at least a dozen vehicles, resulting in one known fatality, according to Honda officials.
Honda officials previously issued vehicle recalls in November 2008 and July 2009 for the same problem in various models and recently expanded the recall to more than a million vehicles to better ensure safety.
“We have decided to recall all inflator assemblies that were not confirmed by 100 percent automatic inspection during production because we cannot be absolutely certain they will all perform as designed, even though recent testing of units from this production process performed correctly,” Honda officials said in a joint news release.
While Honda’s latest recall efforts include more than a million vehicles, the total number recalled are only about a tenth the amount rival Japanese automaker Toyota has recalled in recent months. Toyota has recalled nearly 10 million vehicles worldwide, and company officials are scrambling to maintain the Toyota’s reputation for building quality vehicles.
Toyota’s most recent recall of some 437,000 hybrid vehicles with potentially faulty brakes comes in addition to the about 9 million vehicles across eight model lines Toyota officials recently have recalled already worldwide – including about 2.3 million vehicles in the United States.
Officials for the U.S. National Highway Traffic Highway and Safety Administration recently opened an investigation into the high number of complaints federal officials have received regarding braking issues with the Toyota Prius hybrid, which was not among the eight models and 9 million vehicles worldwide the auto manufacturer previously recalled due to problems with the gas pedal sticking and causing sudden acceleration.
Federal officials said combining all the complaints received on all eight recalled 2010 Toyota models wouldn’t amount to half of the 171 complaints already received on the 2010 Toyota Prius. Some 124 of the complaints about the Prius focus on similar braking issues. By comparison, Toyota recalled its Corolla model, which only had 33 complaints thus far in 2010.
Ford Receives Most Awards for Vehicle Safety
Nov. 19, 2009 – The Ford Motor Company beat out other domestic and foreign auto manufacturers in garnering “Top Safety Pick” awards for new vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced.
Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo, received a total of six awards for 2010 models from the non-profit highway safety institute. Ford’s Taurus and Lincoln MKS sedans received top safety marks along with subsidiary Volvo’s XC60 and XC90 sport utility vehicles, S80 sedan and C30 two-door hatchback. The organization bestowed a total of 27 “Top safety Pick” awards on domestic and foreign auto manufacturers.
Winning vehicles were chosen based on their ability to protect motorists and passengers front-, rear- and side-impact crashes. Vehicles also must have electronic stability control systems and receive the highest possible score for roof strength to qualify for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awards.
The addition of roof-strength testing meant the institute bestowed fewer “Top Safety Pick” awards this year. Some 72 vehicles received the top award last year.
“With the addition of our roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all four of the most common kinds of crashes,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety.”
Japanese auto manufacturer Subaru tied Germany’s Volkswagen with the second-highest number of awards with five vehicles earning “Top Safety Pick” designation. The Subaru Legacy, Outback and Impreza sedans and Tribeca and Forester sport utility vehicles won top safety marks. Subaru was the only auto manufacturer to win awards in all vehicle classes in which it competes.
A Subaru official cited the company’s boxer engine design as a main reason for its high safety marks. Because a boxer engine has horizontally opposed cylinders, it has a lower profile and a lower center of gravity than traditional counterparts, such as V-6 engines. The lower center of gravity makes Subaru models handle well, and the engine tends to go beneath instead of into passengers during front-end collisions, according to the company representative.
Germany’s Volkswagen and its subsidiary, Audi, received safety awards for the Volkswagen Golf, Jetta and Passat sedans and Tiguan sport utility vehicle and the Audi A3 sedan.
Chrysler received the second most awards among U.S. auto manufacturers with the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger sedans with optional electronic stability control, the Jeep Patriot with optional side air bags and midsize Dodge Journey sport utility vehicle getting top marks.
General Motors received awards for the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse sedans. Honda earned awards for its Civic sedan with option electronic stability control and Honda Element. The Kia Soul, Mercedes C Class sedan and Nissan Cube also won “top Safety Pick” awards.
Auto manufacturers BMW, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Toyota did not have any vehicles qualify for top awards.