WASHINGTON (June 30, 2016) — U.S. officials are warning owners of certain 2001-03 Honda and Acura vehicles to stop driving their cars.
They cited new data showing the vehicles' Takata Corp.-manufactured airbag inflators have as much as a 50-percent chance of exploding in a crash.
The warning June 30 applies to about 313,000 units of the 2001-02 Honda Civic and Accord, the 2002-03 Acura TL, 2002 Honda CR-V and Odyssey, 2003 Acura CL and 2003 Honda Pilot that were recalled from 2008-11 for Takata inflators that have not yet been repaired.
“Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
The vehicles contain a manufacturing defect that “greatly increases the potential for dangerous rupture when a crash causes the airbag to deploy,” the Transportation Department said in a statement. Lab tests of the vehicles showed rupture rates of has high as 50 percent.
The statement added: “The risk posed by the airbag inflators in these vehicles is grave, and it is critical they be repaired now to avoid more deaths and serious injuries.”
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This report appeared on the website of Automotive News, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.