It spans 17 models, including the Fit subcompact, Stream minivan and CR-V sport utility vehicle.
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The reason for these recalls is that Takata has equipped cars with air bag inflators that turned out to explode with too much force and spray metal fragments inside cars.
Tokyo: Japanese automaker Honda said it was recalling another 4.5 million vehicles globally, as a scare over a deadly defect in Takata-made airbags widens.
For this round of recalls, however, Honda will be using replacement airbag inflators from competing suppliers Autoliv and Daicel Corp, not Takata. “At the present time, given the limited number of claims filed and the MDL procedures in place that permit the efficient coordination of related claims, Takata believes that a national compensation fund is not now required”. Exact model years affected have yet to be announced. But the manufacturing period was extended to 2007 through 2011, from the previous 2004 through 2006.
“Takata’s senior management has given the idea of a compensation fund careful consideration, and we will continue to evaluate the possible benefits of such a mechanism in relation to the personal injury lawsuits involving air bag ruptures and the multi-district litigation proceedings now pending in federal court in the Southern District of Florida”, Kennedy said. The company has plans to increase that to 1 million inflators monthly by September, and other manufacturers also are making replacements.
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“We apologize deeply for the great problems we have caused our customers”, Honda said in a statement that called the recall a precautionary measure. Older cars and those in high-humidity areas would get inflators first.
