It’s the season of recalls and it’s the Japanese automakers that are experiencing the recalls. After Toyota, it’s Honda Motor that would recall 438,000 cars globally to replace malfunctioning airbags. The recall is in addition to a separate recall of 646,000 cars less than a fortnight ago for a faulty window switch. This is not the first instance of recall for Japan’s No 2 automaker. The company had previously recalled a total of 510,000 for the airbag problem on two earlier occasions in November 2008 and June last year.
The investigation has reveled that the defect was caused due to insufficient stamping pressure during the production of the inflator propellant, Honda said. The airbags are made by the Tokyo-based US unit of the world’s largest auto-safety equipment – Takata Corp.
Honda’s biggest rival Toyota is also suffering from biggest recall in its history on brake-related issues and on charges that the company was slow to respond to safety issues.
US automakers GM and Ford were also quick to capitalize on the opportunity handed over to them by the Japanese as they rolled out incentives to attract Toyota and Honda car owners.