Honda recall to replace faulty Takata airbags for second time

Honda Australia has issued a recall notice to replace faulty Takata airbag inflators in a batch of 25,282 of its vehicles, 592 of which had already been recalled over the same issue.

Models impacted include 15,535 Jazz, 4804 Accord Euro, 2656 Accord, 1426 City and 36 Legend models built in 2012, in addition to  592 Civics made in 2000 – adding to the ever-growing list affected by Tataka airbag defects.

This is Honda's second airbag-related recall for the 2000 Civic in Australia, as the replacement airbags installed during a previous recall were later found to suffer from the same fault that prompted the original safety notice.

In these affected vehicles, the airbag inflator can possibly rupture during an accident or deployment as a result of moisture intrusion, which can lead to the propellant becoming unstable.

Serious death or injury to an affected vehicle's occupants can occur if the metal casing ruptures, which may cause the airbag module to eject shrapnel.

16 deaths have been caused by a handful of the approximately 100 million vehicles recalled globally.

The Japanese car-maker will contact affected vehicle owners via mail, or the Honda recall contact centre can be reached on weekdays between 8:30am and 6:00pm for further information.

Owners are encouraged to book their vehicles in at a preferred authorised Honda dealer for replacement of the airbag inflator at no cost to the customer.

More than half of the affected vehicles have already been serviced for the issue, as Honda dealers are currently completing 5000 inflator replacements per week.

Honda joins BMW, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota on the list of manufacturers issuing forced recalls for the Tataka airbag issue that was originally discovered in 2008.

This latest Tataka airbag recall is preceded by Lexus's announcement from last week that the LFA supercar and 2166 IS sedans were also affected by the worldwide issue.

16 deaths have been caused by a handful of the approximately 100 million vehicles recalled globally – including 68 million examples from the United States alone.

Affected Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) and additional information can be found on the Product Safety Australia website.

Do you own a vehicle that has been involved in the Tataka airbag recalls? Let us know in the comments below.