Oil might be the lifeblood of a combustion engine, but fuel is the food that keeps it running, and for over 2.5 million Hondas and Acuras there’s a chance that the fuel supply might run dry.
Nothing to do with the world’s oil supplies running dry, of course, or of the government switching off the oil tap so you have to drive an EV…yet. No, this is all to do with a large batch of faulty Denso fuel pumps that were fitted to numerous Honda and Acura cars between the 2017 and 2020 model years.
The issue centers on an incorrectly moulded fuel pump impeller, whose defective shape could cause it to interfere with the fuel pump body, potentially causing fuel starvation. And because recall notices have to revel in the absolute worst case scenario, a bit like an eight-year old telling you about some gruesome accident they saw at school, the NHTSA warns that fuel starvation could mean the engine stalls while driving, resulting in an crash and/or injury.
Related: Toyota Recalls 1.1 Million Cars Because Their Airbag Doesn’t Know Big From Small
Honda and Acura, for their part, say that no injuries or deaths have arisen due to the dodgy pumps (sorry, eight-year olds), but Honda has dealt with 4,042 warranty claims. That number, however, is dwarfed by the 2.6 million vehicles affected by this week’s recall for the same issue. It covers so many cars that it even manages to make Tesla’s 2 million-unit Autopilot recall appear less horrific than it really is.
Here’s the rundown of Hondas and Acuras needing a new ticker: