- Honda issued a recall of the 2023-2024 Accord and HR-V in November 2023.
- The recall was concerned with a missing rivet in the front seatbelt assemblies that could cause occupants not to be adequately restrained in an accident.
- Now, NHTSA is investigating to determine if the Accord Hybrid should have been included in the action.
Federal regulators in the U.S. have opened an investigation into a recall launched by Honda on November 21, 2023. The probe will look into whether the issue affects more vehicles than initially indicated.
The action relates to the 2023-2024 Honda Accord and HR-V whose front seatbelt pretensioners may have been missing a rivet that attaches the quick connector to the wire plate. Vehicles with a missing rivet might not effectively restrain their occupants in a crash.
Read: 2023-2024 Honda Accord And HR-V Recalled Over Missing Seat Belt Component
This was a potential issue in the driver’s seat of the Accord, and in both front seats for the HR-V. In order to fix the problem, Honda technicians are supposed to use a pull force gauge to determine if the connection between the quick connector and the wire plate is strong enough, and to replace seatbelt assemblies that fail the pull test.
However, it seems the organization is not fully convinced that Honda’s initial recall comprehensively resolves the issue across all potentially affected vehicles. While the investigation focuses on the inspection procedure, it doesn’t specify any particular issues with Honda’s solution. Additionally, there seems to be a shift in the number of vehicles that NHTSA is examining.
Whereas the initial recall, launched in November, affected a total of 303,770 vehicles, NHTSA documents reveal that the recall query, launched on April 4, is interested in 389,253 examples. That’s a total of 85,483 more vehicles.
Although the recall query continues to include the 2023-2024 Accord and HR-V as the affected vehicles, it now additionally includes the Accord Hybrid, previously omitted from the initial recall documents. This inclusion suggests that the organization has expanded its concern to encompass the seatbelts in the Accord Hybrid as well.
Honda said it was already in communication with NHTSA regarding this issue in a statement to Autonews. It added that it will continue to cooperate with the organization throughout the query process.
