REPORT: NHTSA probe opened into Honda airbag recall timing
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/government-legal/" rel="tag">Government/Legal</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/recalls-tsbs/" rel="tag">Recalls</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/safety/" rel="tag">Safety</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/acura/" rel="tag">Acura</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/honda/" rel="tag">Honda</a></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2001-honda-accord/"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/11/2001-honda-accord.jpg" /></a>
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em><sma ll>2001 Honda Accord - Click above for high-res image gallery</small></em></strong></div>
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Over the last year, Honda has recalled roughly 444,000 vehicles to repair overpressurized airbag inflators in certain 2001-2002 Honda Accord, 2001 Civic and 2002-2003 Acura TL models. According to the automaker, there has been one death and multiple injuries stemming from the defect, which can send small metal fragments through the airbag and onto the vehicle's occupants.<br />
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For whatever reason, the total recall was announced in <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/03/honda-adds-440-000-more-cars-to-airbag-fragment-recall/">two separate increments</a> that were <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/21/2001-honda-accord-and-civic-recalled-due-to-airbags-that-are-eve/">eight months apart</a> - and NHTSA wants to know why. Earlier, Honda had said that the problem was traced back to Takata Corp., which supplied the faulty inflators, and that the supplier had made "incorrect assumptions" about the numbers of parts it had sent to Honda. Says Honda spokesman Chris Martin:<br />
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<div><em>The initial range of recalled vehicles was based on a relatively small sample of problematic airbag deployments...It took some further customer reports of airbag deployments for us to be able to look back and say, these vehicles are not in the lot we identified but have the same problem.</em></div>
</blockquote>Honda denies any wrongdoing and promises to fully cooperate with the NHTSA investigation.<br />
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<div class="postgallery"><p><s trong>Gallery: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/">2001 Honda Accord</a></strong></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/07/2001-honda-accord-stock-_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/07/2001-honda-accord-stock--(1)_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/07/2001-honda-accord-stock--(2)_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/07/2001-honda-accord-stock--(3)_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2001-honda-accord/low/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/07/2001-honda-accord-stock--(4)_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a></div><br />
[Source: <a href="http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091106/ANA02/911069988/1274&AssignSessionID=1733 71748339590">Automotive News</a> - Sub. Req'd]<p style="padding:5px;backgr ound:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/09/report-nhtsa-probe-opened-into-honda-airbag-recall-timing/">REPORT: NHTSA probe opened into Honda airbag recall timing</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblo g</a> on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091106/ANA02/911069988/1274&AssignSessionID=1733 71748339590>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/09/report-nhtsa-probe-opened-into-honda-airbag-recall-timing/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19229492/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/09/report-nhtsa-probe-opened-into-honda-airbag-recall-timing/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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