Honda, Acura Recall 2.2 Million More Cars for Takata Airbags

Continental’s announcement came in the middle of a recall crisis involving Japan’s Takata air bag inflators, deemed responsible for many casualties in the past.

Acura models in the recall include the RL (2005-2012), the TL (2009-2014), the ZDX (2010-2013) the ILX (2013-2016) and the RDX (2007-2016).

Honda Motor (HMC) has added an additional 2.23 million late model US vehicles to the growing list of recalls over Takata airbags that could explode from production defects. This new recall action makes a total of approximately 8.51 million Honda and Acura vehicles subject to replacement of a Takata driver and/or passenger front airbag inflator in the United States.

So far, faulty Takata airbags have been linked to 10 deaths, the most recent one occurring in December.

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.

This isn’t Honda’s first recall rodeo when it comes to Takata. Honda has warned dealers they could face legal consequences for selling any un-repaired vehicles.

“This is the largest, most expensive recall problem in history and it will take the longest time to resolve”, said Kart Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. If the computers break, the airbags could inadvertently deploy, or could fail to deploy in a crash. Continental says it is notifying the manufacturers, which each will issue individual recalls.

According to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the electrical systems in the affected air bags can become corroded, resulting in the air bag failing to deploy in a crash.

Honda said in a statement Wednesday night that no inflator ruptures of this type have been reported in any of its vehicles.

The Continental spokeswoman said the company is working closely with affected vehicle makers and providing them with relevant information. Instead, this is an extension of the Continental recall affecting 112,001 Chrysler, Dodge, and Volkswagen vehicles we wrote about earlier today.

On Wednesday night, Honda said it would recall 364,787 2008 to 2010 Accord sedans worldwide because of the issue.

“The silver lining for consumers is that once the recall fix is completed, there should not be any detrimental impact to their vehicle’s retained value”, Ibara said.

Use NHTSA’s Vehicle Identification Number Recall System to see if your vehicle is affected by the recall.