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Massive Honda Recall for Airbag Defects

Honda’s safety issues with its airbags seem to continue as the company announced yet another recall of vehicles, this time for an airbag safety defect.  The company has announced that it is adding approximately 830,000 more Honda vehicles to earlier recalls for airbag defects. The recalls have been announced because the airbags deployed with too much force during accidents.

According to Honda, it had installed more than 2,440 defective airbags during repairs to cars after previous accidents.  However, the company was not able to track down the cars with the defective airbags, and therefore, it has broadened the recall to include several models.

The Honda models included in this recall are

• 2001-2002 Accord
• 2001-2003 Civic
• 2002 Odyssey
• 2002-2003 CR-V
• 2002-2003 Acura 3.2 TL
• 2003 Acura 3.2 CL

The Japanese automaker has been plagued by airbag defect problems over the past few years.  Since November of 2008, the company has recalled approximately 1.7 million vehicles for airbag defect concerns.  Some of these Honda airbag defects have been linked to serious injuries.  In February 2010, while announcing its latest recall, Honda admitted that the airbags deployed with too much force during accidents, contributing to several injury incidents.  At least one of these incidents resulted in a fatality.

Overaggressive airbags or air bags that deploy with too much force during an accident have as much risk of causing injuries as airbags that fail to deploy, or deploy too late.  An airbag that deploys with too much force can reach speeds of as much as 200 mph or more, causing a serious risk of injury to the occupant.  These airbags invade too much of the occupant’s space, increasing the risk of serious head injuries, facial injuries, and eye injuries.

Apart from airbag deployment with excessive force, there are all kinds of other airbag defect that cause several injuries every year.  For instance, some of the most common airbag defects that Los Angeles defective product lawyers come across involve airbags that fail to deploy.  In many cases, airbags fail to deploy because of defective components, including defective sensors.  Airbag defects can also cause the airbag to be deployed in unnecessary situations.  Such unnecessary and unexpected deployment of airbags is typically traced to malfunctioning of sensors.  In such cases, the airbag may deploy even in non-accident situations, like when a motorist hits a curb.

Injuries caused by a defective airbag can be extremely serious.  Typically, Los Angeles defective product attorneys notice injuries like facial injuries, brain injuries, and eye injuries. Eye injuries can be serious enough to result in vision loss.  There may also be neck injuries and serious internal injuries.  Children and the short-statured may be at a high risk of suffering airbag injuries.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of faultly airbags. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire to discuss a personal injury matter,  you can reach us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

 

 

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