Honda Motor Co. called back 4.5 million vehicles globally in connection with Takata Corp. air bags, expanding the industry’s largest recall ever, amid a mounting toll of injuries or deaths related to the safety devices.
About 36 percent of the total, or 1.63 million, involve vehicles in Japan ranging from the Fit small car to the CR-V crossover, Teruhiko Tatebe, a Honda spokesman, said by phone yesterday. The automaker is still compiling details on models affected in other markets, he said.
It’s Honda’s third-biggest recall this year and its first since Takahiro Hachigo took over as president this month from a predecessor who was plagued by quality missteps. While Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. have also been hit, no carmaker has been more affected by the Takata air-bag crisis than Honda, which has now called back more than 24 million vehicles.
Hachigo told reporters yesterday that he believes the inflators that Takata currently makes are safe, though he declined to say whether the automaker will continue to use the components. The priority remains to find the root cause of the inflator ruptures, he said.
The cost related to the latest recall may be covered by existing provisions set aside by Honda and the company doesn’t expect an additional impact to earnings for now, spokesman Atsushi Ohara said.
The latest Honda recall involved vehicles manufactured from 2007 to 2011. While the same type of inflator is use in vehicles produced after 2012, those were not recalled as investigations didn’t find evidence of danger, Honda said. No injuries or deaths related to the air bags were reported for the batch being called back.
The stock fell 0.1 percent to close at 3,832 yen in Tokyo and Takata dropped 4.5 percent to 1,245 yen, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.6 percent. Craig Trudell and Yuki Hagiwara, Bloomberg
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