Honda cars in Britain recalled after defective airbags discovered

“The 5 million airbags would be much more manageable if it was the only airbag recall going on”, said Brauer.

Recalled vehicles will have their airbags replaced.

CONSEQUENCE: If the air bag control unit fails, the air bags may not deploy in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of occupant injury. The company continued to investigate, and in early 2011, Continental was told of two inadvertent air bag deployments, in Mercedes and Fiat Chrysler vehicles.

The root cause of the failures is still uncertain, and the NHTSA is casting a wide net to capture all the vehicles that are potentially affected, the magazine reported. The recall includes the Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country, and their cousin, the Volkswagen Routan, which Chrysler produced for a short period of time for the German automaker.

According to the official documents Continental filed with the government, the airbag problem first surfaced back in the beginning of 2008.

Honda previously has recalled more than 6 million USA vehicles since 2008 to replace defective Takata inflators.

The recalls are part of a bigger safety issue involving Takata Corp., a supplier of air bags to major USA automakers. At this stage the list of vehicles is unknown, but it’s believed the Honda Accord, Dodge Journey and some Mercedes-Benz C-Class models could be affected.

In some cars, air bags on both the driver and passenger side have been recalled.

The defective airbags are blamed for nine deaths in the U.S.

Some 50 million vehicles worldwide were recalled past year over the problem, and major auto manufacturers like Honda and Nissan have dumped the Japanese parts supplier.

The units were made from 2006 on through 2010, according to Reuters; unfortunately, there are reports of injuries resulting from the defect.

NHTSA opened an investigation in August after a complaint of a crash in a 2008 Accord in which the air bags did not deploy. It did not receive any complaints after another change was made at the end of 2010 and completed in 2011. The company will mail interim recall notices to owners by mid-March, with a second notice to follow when parts become available – likely this fall.

A new SRS control unit will be installed in affected vehicles, free of charge.