Honda Adds 772K Vehicles To Takata Airbag Recall

Just when it seemed like carmakers had run out of vehicles to recall related to the deadly Takata airbag defect, more are added to the list: 772,000 Honda and Acura vehicles. 

Honda announced this week that it would add to the already hefty Takata recall tab with 772,000 sedans equipped with defective front passenger seat airbag inflators, the Associated Press reports. 

The recall covers model year 2005 to 2006 Acura MDX, model year 2005 to 2012 Acura RL, model year 2008 to 2012 Honda Accord, model year 2006 to 2011 Honda Civic, model year 200 to 2012 Honda Fit, and model year 2010 to 2012 Honda Insight.

Honda has been no stranger to the Takata recall. The company is the largest customer of the auto parts maker, and has recalled more than 10.7 million Honda and Acura vehicles.

Additionally, its vehicles have been tied to 10 of the 11 deaths linked to the defective airbags. Ford is the only other carmaker to have a vehicle involved in a Takata-related death.

In June, Honda, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, began urging owners of older Honda and Acura vehicles to not driver their cars after determining they were the most susceptible to dangerous ruptures in the event of a crash.

That directive involved model year 2001-2002 Honda Civic and Accord, 2002 to 2003 Acura TL, 2002 Honda CR-V, Odyssey, 2003 Honda Pilot, and 2003 Acura CL vehicles that contain a manufacturing defect which greatly increases the potential for a rupture when a crash causes the air bag to deploy.

“With as high as a 50% chance of a dangerous airbag inflator rupture in a crash, these vehicles are unsafe and need to be repaired immediately,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said at the time. “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”