| The interior of a 2003 Honda Odyssey, one of the models slated for airbag recall. | |
Markham, Ontario — December 10, 2014 — Honda is voluntarily replacing the airbags of approximately 700,000 vehicles nationwide.
Announced December 9, the recall—deemed a Safety Improvement Campaign by the automaker—is part of a global undertaking, also covering a total of 5.4 million vehicles across the US and over 134,000 cars in Japan.
According to numerous reports, the Japan-manufactured Takata Corp. airbags have been linked to dozens of injuries and at least five deaths—with four in the US and one in Malaysia. The defective driver-side airbags have been said to inflate with too much force, causing them to rupture and project metal shards.
In a release, the OEM says it is unaware of any existing reports of injuries or fatalities occurring in Canada in connection with the airbags.
The campaign is an expansion of a previous recall limited to 11 states and territories, where high-humdity environments were shown to trigger the deterioration of the inflators, also installed in Toyota, Nissan, General Motors, Chrysler and BMW vehicles.
The expansion complies with an order put forth by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month. Mazda Motors is said to follow suit.
Owners of affected vehicles will be notified by mail, with authorized Honda/Acura dealers performing replacements and repairs.
The following vehicles are included in the recall:
- 2001-2007 Honda Accord with 4-cylinder engines
- 2001-2002 Honda Accord with V6 engines
- 2001-2005 Honda Civic
- 2002-2006 Honda CR-V
- 2003-2010 Honda Element
- 2002-2004 Honda Odyssey
- 2003-2007 Honda Pilot
- 2006 Honda Ridgeline
- 2003-2006 Acura MDX
- 2002-2003 Acura TL
- 2002 Acura CL.
For more information, please visit Honda.ca.
