Honda has expanded a previously announced recall of certain 2001 and
2002 model-year vehicles to replace the driver's airbag inflator in an
additional 378,758 vehicles in the U.S. The driver's airbag inflators
in these vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause
the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury or fatality.
In total, Honda is aware of 12 incidents related to this issue as of
February. While Honda was aware of two additional events when the
decision to first expand the recall was made in July 2009, the
automaker said it is not aware of any new events that have occurred
after July 2009. However, Honda said it has concluded that it cannot be
completely certain that the driver's airbag inflator in the vehicles
being added to this recall at this time will perform as designed.
Therefore, the company has decided to add certain 2001 and 2002 Accord,
Civic, Odyssey, CR-V, and selected 2002 Acura TL vehicles to this
recall.
Honda is announcing this recall expansion to encourage all owners of
these vehicles to take their vehicle to an authorized dealer as soon as
they receive notification from Honda that their vehicle is affected.
Notification to customers will start within this month.
Honda originally brought this matter to the attention of NHTSA and has
kept NHTSA apprised of the decision to include additional vehicles in
the expanded recall.
From aftermarketNews