Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (HMC) announced Tuesday that it has widened its recall to more than 816 thousand vehicles to fix potentially faulty airbag systems. In a statement by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., it said that it is recalling nearly another 379 thousand vehicles in the U.S. to replace the driver's airbag inflator. The company had earlier recalled about 438 thousand model year 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic and certain 2002 Acura TL vehicles for the same fault in November 2008 and July 2009.
Honda noted that it recalled fewer than four thousand model year 2001 Accord and Civic vehicles to replace the driver's airbag inflator in November 2008 after an analysis of four instances of driver's airbag inflator rupture. Later, it expanded the recall to 438 thousand vehicles in July 2009 of certain 2001 and 2002 model-year vehicles after two additional incidents were reported, including one fatal.
The company has now decided to add certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic, Odyssey, CR-V, and selected 2002 Acura TL vehicles to this recall. These also include one Honda Pilot and one Acura CL vehicle, each produced in late 2002.
The problem was that If the driver's airbag deploys in an affected vehicle, the driver's airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure which may cause the airbag inflator casing to rupture, resulting in metal fragments passing through the airbag cushion material and possibly causing injury or fatality to vehicle occupants. In total, Honda is aware of 12 incidents related to this issue as of February 2010.
Last month, Honda Motor also announced what was until then its biggest recall in seven years. The company will recall 646 thousand City, Fit and Jazz cars, mostly in North America and the U.K., to fix faulty power window switches. The recall was seen as further damaging Japanese automakers' reputation for safety and reliability.
These recalls are driven partly by the current concern over safety issues raised by Honda's peer and Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp.'s (TM) recent recalls of more than six million vehicles. Toyota now faces questions from lawmakers and regulators about whether it moved swiftly enough to address reports of problems with sudden acceleration in certain vehicles.
Meanwhile, Honda reported Last week a more than six-fold year-over-year surge in profit for the third quarter, driven by lower costs and other expenses. Consolidated net income was 134.63 billion yen, or US$1.46 billion, compared to 20.24 billion yen in the year-ago quarter. Basic net income per common share climbed to 74.19 yen, or US$0.81 from 11.16 yen last year. Consolidated quarterly revenues were down 11.5% from last year at 2.24 trillion yen, reflecting sales declines in the company's main operating segments and unfavorable currency translation effects.
HMC closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $34.52, up $0.71 or 2.10% on a volume of 0.35 million shares, lower than the three-month average volume of 0.54 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.