Honda recalls 440000 more cars in Japan over air bags

The now airbags are Takata PSDI-5 airbag inflators on the driver’s side which can rupture when they deploy, spraying shrapnel at the vehicle’s occupants. Affected vehicles include model-year 2007-2016 models from Honda as well as its Acura luxury division.

Honda told its dealers that replacement parts are in very short supply and can only be ordered for vehicles with crash damage or with airbag issues. Honda just announced that it added 2.23 million more vehicles to its recall list, making for a total of 8.51 million affected vehicles in the US, Autoblog reports.

The recall documents specify that the vehicles contain airbags manufactured by Takata, which was fined a record $200 million a year ago by the NHTSA for hiding safety concerns over the exploding airbags linked to at least 10 deaths and scores of injuries.

The NHTSA opened an investigation in August 2015 after a complaint of a crash in a 2008 Honda Accord in which the air bags did not deploy.

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey are urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall all cars with Takata inflators and to accelerate the fix of all affected vehicles. Since reports of inflator ruptures surfaced in 2003, Takata at times has blamed the handling of ammonium nitrate for the problems.

NHTSA determined that Continental became aware of two inadvertent deployments in the field, one from a Daimler vehicle and one from a Chrysler vehicle. Other manufacturers may be included, and according to Continental’s production dates, the recalls could involve model years between 2006 and 2011. “All potentially affected customers were notified immediately and we are in close contact them”, a Continental spokeswoman said.

Its latest action indicates the continuing Takata recalls may not be over.

Honda spokesman Chris Martin confirmed the dealer memo as well as the stop-sale order, which he said is Honda’s protocol with any recall that involves cars likely to be among dealer’s new or certified pre-owned inventory.

The Japanese automaker also said it was recalling 341,000 Accords due to a separate issue affecting the electronic control unit used in supplemental restraint systems in 2008-2010 models, which could result in air bags failing to deploy.

Continental estimates that less than two million of the vehicles are in the U.S.