Honda Motor Co. has announced its largest recall ever. The Japanese automaker recalled 304,000 vehicles globally because they may contain defective air bags. (Approximately 273,000 of the cars recalled are in the U.S. and Canada.) This recall is Honda’s sixth recall since 2008 for the same problem, and brings the total number of cars recalled to nearly 2 million.
The recall affects some of Honda and Acura’s most popular models, including the Accord, Civic, Odyssey and Pilot. Honda has concerns that the vehicles’ air bags could burst in a crash due to defective inflators, sending metal and plastic pieces flying and potentially causing injury or death.
Honda has confirmed 20 accidents related to the air bag problem, including two deaths in the U.S., both in 2009.
The specific list of cars affected by Honda’s expanded recall includes: 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2001 to 3003 Odyssey, 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL.
For more information regarding this recall, please review Honda’s “Statement by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Regarding Driver’s Airbag Inflator Recall Expansion.”
Defective Products Are Deadly
As I mention on my website, most of our everyday products are safe and pose no significant risk of danger, however, thousands of defective products make it to the market place and cause personal injury and even wrongful death.
Product defect cases can be more complex than they first appear, so it is important that a potential product liability claim against the manufacture or sale of a dangerous product be pursued immediately. Proving a product defect requires input and investigation from a variety of individuals and is necessary to show one or more of the following:
- The product defect existed in the design of the product, occurring before the product was manufactured;
- The product defect manifested during manufacturing, occurring while the product was being constructed or produced; and/or
- The product defect was determined after market and was due to improper instructions and failure to warn consumers about the dangers of the product.