Honda widens recall for airbag problem in several popular models

<p>Honda Canada Inc. is expanding a previously announced recall of 2001 through 2003 model year Honda and Acura vehicles to fix an airbag problem.</p>

Published May 3, 2011

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MARKHAM, ONT. â€” Honda Canada Inc. is expanding a previously announced recall of 2001 through 2003 model year Honda and Acura vehicles to fix an airbag problem.

The recall has been expanded so the automaker can check the driverâ€™s
airbags on another 29,300 vehicles operating in Canada for a possible
defect. In total, the recall has been expanded to cover an additional
833,000 vehicles in North America.

The automaker said Monday that as many as 152 additional vehicles not involved in the original recall may have faulty airbag modules as a result of undergoing collision or other repairs.

Related: Honda warns of Civic shortage

â€œOwners of all potentially affected vehicles are being notified because Honda has not been able to determine which specific vehicles received one of those parts,â€ the company said in a release.

â€œThe replacement driverâ€™s airbag inflators in affected vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury or fatality.â€

This recall includes certain 2001 and 2002 Accord and Civic, 2002 Odyssey; 2002 and 2003 CR-V, selected 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL, and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL vehicles.

Honda said 2,430 faulty airbags were installed after crashes, but it doesnâ€™t know which vehicles got them.

Honda originally announced the recall to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in November 2008, involving fewer than 4,000 2001 Accords and Civics.

In February 2010, Honda added more than 378,000 cars to the recall, bringing the number of affected vehicles to 822,000.

Notification to the expanded group of customers will begin in late May 2011.