Honda adds 2.2M vehicles to Takata recall campaign

The following is a timeline provided by the US safety regulator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday when it also announced a recall of 5 million USA vehicles with air bag control units supplied by Continental Automotive systems, a unit of Continental AG CONG.DE . In fact, Honda expanded its Takata recall on Wednesday to include 2.2 million newer Honda and Acura vehicles in the U.S.

Honda would not say where the other recalls will be.

Continental Automotive Systems Inc. recalled five million potentially defective air-bag control units globally for problems that cause the safety equipment to inadvertently deploy or fail to activate altogether. It also added that 74 injury accusations in connection with air bags that failed to deploy have yet to be verified.

The second new recall involves 341,000 Honda Accords sold during the 2008 to 2010 model-years.

The recall brings the number of vehicles recalled in the United States due to Takata inflator problems to about 24 million.

Takata is preparing to present a restructuring plan to automakers in early May that will include an agreement on the sharing of recall costs, people familiar with the matter said this week. However, Reuters reported the campaign affects models from Daimler, Fiat Chrysler and Honda, according to a spokesman at Continental’s Chassis & Safety division. They will be invited to take their vehicle to their local Honda dealership so an inspection can be completed and, if a fault is found, fit a replacement airbag inflator unit.

Meanwhile, an analyst thinks that the Continental air bag recall can’t be compared to the Takata air bag recall, mainly because fewer vehicles are impacted by Continental’s recall.

Numerous other 11 automakers using Takata airbags are likely to expand their recalls as well as they determine which models contain the newer airbags that need to be replaced.

This is yet another airbag recall, but surprisingly, Takata isn’t involved.

In the documents, Continental says its problem first surfaced in January of 2008 when it analysed a malfunctioning control unit that was removed from a Mercedes vehicle. “If the system is not replaced, all restraint systems, including the airbags may not deploy in a crash, which could increase the risk of serious injury or death”.

The company will notify owners about the problem, but fix parts won’t be available until fall.