Honda has announced a recall of a further 668,000 cars in Japan in order to replace faulty airbag inflators supplied by Takata Corp.
According to Autonews, the Japanese automaker stated that it had recalled models such as the Fit, Civic and the Accord sedan over passenger-side airbags and that vehicles produced between 2009 and 2011 were affected.
With this latest announcement, Honda’s global tally of recalled airbags is about 51 million, which is roughly half of the 100 million scheduled for recall worldwide. As of right now, defective airbags have been linked to at least 14 deaths and 150 injuries around the globe.
This latest recall comes hot on the heels of Japan’s transport ministry ordering automakers in May to recall an additional 7 million vehicles in Japan equipped with Takata inflators that didn’t contain a drying agent – just as US transport authorities had previously done.
The issue with the drying agent is that without it, the ammonium nitrate-based propellant used in Takata inflators can explode violently if exposed to hot, humid conditions. In turn, this explosion can send metal shrapnel into the vehicle’s cabin.
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