Honda Recalls Nearly 876,000 Cars, Minivans, and SUVs to Replace Defective Airbags
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American Honda Motor Co. is recalling 875,966 Acura and Honda vehicles to replace the front driver-side airbag. These same vehicles may have received defective Takata airbag modules as part of a vehicle repair.
The recalled airbag inflators could explode if a propellant they contain degrades after long-term exposure to high humidity or extreme temperatures, according to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This may cause slow deployment, which may result in insufficient protection by the airbag. Or there may be over-aggressive combustion, creating excessive internal pressure when the driver frontal airbag is deployed. Very high internal pressure could result in the body of the airbag inflator rupturing.
The Details
Vehicles Recalled
2001-2002 Acura 3.2CL
2000-2003 Acura 3.5RL
2000-2001 Acura 3.2TL
2000-2001 Honda CR-V
2000-2001 Honda Odyssey
2001-2002 Acura MDX
2000 Accord Coupe and Accord Sedan
2000 Civic Coupe and Civic Sedan
The problem: The airbag inflators may explode because of propellant degradation after long-term exposure to high humidity, extreme temperatures, and temperature cycling. An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.
The fix: Dealers will replace the driver airbag inflator with an inflator of a different design when the replacement parts become available, free of charge.
How to contact the manufacturer: Honda will notify owners of the problem by mail beginning March 9, 2020. They will receive a second letter notifying them when remedy parts are available. Owners may contact American Honda's customer service at 888-234-2138.
NHTSA campaign numbers: 20V-027. Owners can look up their 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN) or the make, model, and year of their vehicle on NHTSA’s website to find out whether their vehicle is affected by this recall.
If you plug your car’s VIN into NHTSA’s website and a recall doesn’t appear, it means your vehicle doesn’t currently have one. Because automakers issue recalls often, and for many older vehicles, we recommend checking back regularly.
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