Honda adds 2.2 million vehicles to Takata air bag recall

[DETROIT] Honda Motor Co Ltd is expanding its recall in North America of late-model vehicles equipped with potentially defective Takata air bags, adding 2.23 million vehicles, the automaker said Wednesday.

Honda said certain Acura and Honda vehicles from model years 2005-2016 are being recalled to replace Takata PSDI-5 driver-side inflators.

The automaker recalled another 269,000 similar models in Canada on Monday for the same issue.

Takata Corp told US safety regulators two weeks ago that about 3.9 million PSDI-5 inflators sold to several different vehicle manufacturers could rupture and kill, or cause serious injury to vehicle occupants. Honda's latest recall is included in that count.

Honda on Wednesday said no PSDI-5 ruptures had been reported in its vehicles.

Defective Takata inflators have been linked to nine US deaths since 2004, all but one of them in older Honda vehicles.

Honda previously has recalled more than 6 million US vehicles since 2008 to replace defective Takata inflators.

Honda said the PSDI-5 inflators will be replaced, beginning this summer, with parts from another supplier.

Honda's latest action indicates the continuing Takata recalls may not be over.

On Tuesday, Democratic US senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey urged NHTSA to recall all cars with Takata inflators. The senators estimated that 24 million such vehicles remained on US roads.

On Wednesday, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said "the never-ending flow of piecemeal recall announcements" on Takata air bags "needs to end."

Asked about a broader recall, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told reporters on Tuesday that NHTSA's investigation "has not been closed. There is still ongoing work. ... We will continue to take action as we deem appropriate."

Through December, NHTSA had recalled 23 million potentially defective Takata inflators in about 19 million vehicles.

Two weeks ago, Takata agreed to seek the recall of a further 5.1 million driver-side inflators, including the PSDI-5 types plus 1.2 million SDI driver-side inflators.

REUTERS