Honda says it will expand a regional air bag recall to include more vehicles. Previously, the recall only affected cars that were located in humidity-rich environments. Now, after a defective air bag exploded and caused serious injury to a person a non-humid environment, the recall has been extended. Honda air bag recalls have yet to extend into Canada; other air bag-related recalls have.
During the last half decade, Honda has recalled 6 million of its cars around the world for air bag defects. Thus far, two deaths have been linked to Honda air bags. The most recent incident that lead to the recall expansion involved an air bag that caused shrapnel to spew out onto a person who was driving a Honda. The collision that led to the event happened at a low speed, but the driver was severely bruised and burned as result of the event.
The recall expansion focuses on a west coast state in the United States and includes Honda Accords from model years 2001 through 2007, Honda Civics from model years 2001 through 2005, and Honda CR-Vs from model years 2002 through 2006. A spokesperson for Takata, the Japanese-based auto safety part manufacturer that made the air bags, was unable to comment on the recall expansion.
Worldwide, recalls of cars with Takata-made air bags have affected approximately 10.6 million vehicles during the last half-decade. Passengers and/or drivers in Canada who believe they suffered air bag defect-caused injuries in a car accident may wish to pursue civil claims for justice under the law. Accident evidence can be studied for signs to determine the extent to which an air bag malfunction may have contributed and/or worsened a victim’s injuries in such claims.
Source: Source: Reuters, "Honda says to expand U.S. regional air bag recall to include California," Yoku Kubota, July 4, 2014