Honda Says 6 Million Vehicles Now Affected by Faulty Takata Air Bags

Honda is increasing the number of U.S. vehicles affected by the Takata air-bag issue to 6 million, the automaker confirmed Friday.

That’s up from the roughly 2.8 million Honda vehicles that the company previously thought were equipped with faulty air-bag inflators, which can shoot metal into the cabin when the air bags deploy, causing potentially fatal injuries.

The defective inflators have killed five people in Honda vehicles alone, four of which have been in the United States.

Honda is still in the process of determining exactly how many of its vehicles have the faulty inflators, and whether they’re on just the driver’s side air bag or both the driver’s side and front passenger air bag, according to Honda spokesman Chris Martin.

Once it determines the full extent of the problem, Honda will reach out to owners of affected vehicles and tell them how to proceed. Owners curious if their Honda is among the initial 2.8 million vehicles recalled can check by entering their VIN at http://www.honda.com/recalls.

Rick Schostek, Honda’s Executive Vice President for North America, testified Wednesday before a House panel that the automaker would be expanding its initial regional recall from June.

The updated numbers from Honda mean approximately 11 million vehicles in the United States have now been affected by the Takata air-bag issue. Other brands affected include Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and BMW.

This article appeared in print in the December 8th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.