Honda declares international recall for air-bag troubles

Honda Motor Co. is recalling 304,000 automobiles internationally for air-bags that may blow up with surplus pressure in a crash, send metal and plastic pieces flying and cause wounds or casualties.

Honda said there have been 20 accidents until now associated to this trouble, including two casualties in the U.S. in 2009.

The Japanese auto manufacturer pronounced the recall Friday, which concerns the Accord, Civic, Odyssey, Pilot, CR-V and other models, made in 2001 and 2002.

The recall spans 273,000 automobiles in the U.S., some 27,000 in Canada, approximately 2,000 vehicles in Japan and another 2,000 in other countries.

The fresh recall is an extension of recalls for the similar trouble in 2008, and once more carried out in 2009, also last year. The recall now covers about 2 million vehicles internationally, according to Tokyo-based Honda.

Hajime Kaneko, Honda’s spokesman said the cause was the use of inaccurate material in the chemical utilized to deploy air bags.

But that trouble was created later to affect several vehicles than primarily estimated, and the recall had to be extended, he said. Honda is expecting no further recalls connected to this problem, he said.

 
Also included in the new recall are 912 air-bag service parts sold for installation in vehicles for accident repair and other causes, Honda said.