Category Archives: Honda

News about Honda automobile manufacturer. News about Honda recalls, technical service bulletins (TSB), and problems regarding Honda vehicles.

Honda Recall For Brakes

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Honda will be recalling about 343,000 2007-2008 Odyssey and 68,000 2007-2008 Element vehicles in order to modify the Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) modulator. Complaints of “soft” or low brake pedals over time has led Honda to encourage all owners to take their vehicle to their dealer as soon as they receive notification from Honda starting at the end of April.

Some VSA modulators were assembled in a manner that could allow air intrusion, making it possible for air to enter the modulator during the VSA self-check mode. While only a small amount of air can enter the system during each check, over a period of months or years, the air will accumulate and can result in the “soft brake pedal” or “low brake pedal” condition. Although not all vehicles being recalled are affected by this issue, all possible units are recalled to assure all customers that their vehicles will perform correctly.

Honda Toyota Price Wars

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In the recent shadow of Toyota’s unintended acceleration, Toyota has offered price and loan incentives to get customers back in the doors and buying automobiles. Honda, in an attempt to not fall behind, is offering its biggest deals ever, starting a price war which could leave other automobile manufacturers behind. The irony of this price war is that it is being started by Japanese automakers which historically don’t use these types of tactics. American automakers have been cautious about entering the price wars since they do not have a lot of cash to offer incentives.” said Aaron Bragman, auto industry analyst at IHS Global Insight.

These incentives may end up hurting Toyota in the near future. The company has seen sales soar as bargain hunters and loyal customers stream into showrooms to take advantage of the deals. Once that traffic runs out, Toyota will find it even harder to sell to people who are not loyal or who are skeptical of the brand.

2009 Was A Year Of High Auto Recalls

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced 2009 as the highest for auto recalls since 2005. Although the number of campaigns was the lowest in five years, the number of automobiles recalled in each campaign was high. 2008 brought about 10.5 million vehicles recalled in 684 campaigns while there were 16.4 million vehicles recalled in 2009 in 492 campaigns. Only Honda reported a decline in recalled vehicles in 2009.

Below is a list of how the recalls were distributed amongst auto makers in 2009:

  • The leader with nine campaigns adding up to 4.26 million vehicles recalled was the automaker Toyota and their unintended acceleration problems. This is the first time a Japanese automaker has led the industry total.
  • Ford recalled 4.5 million vehicles in eight campaigns. The largest being a defective cruise control switch which was linked to vehicle fires.
  • General Motors had 2.2 million vehicles recalled in 16 campaigns. The possibility of engine fires in passenger sedans accounted for 1.5 million vehicles recalled.
  • Chrysler had 15 campaigns, recalling almost 600,000 vehicles. Chrysler’s popular minivans the Town & Country and the Dodge Grand Caravan accounted for over 350,000 of these recalls for defective crash sensors.
  • Honda had four campaigns recalling 454,000 vehicles. Almost all these vehicles were recalled due to an airbag defect.
  • Nissan Motor Co. had six campaigns, recalling 706,000 vehicles in 2009. Almost 550,000 of these recalls were due to a brake pedal pin becoming partially disengaged causing a loss of normal braking power.
  • Hyundai Motor Co. and its Kia unit recalled 1.3 million vehicles in eight campaigns. Over 530,000 recalls were due to a malfunctioning stop lamp switch that could prevent the brake lights from illuminating or cause them to stay lit after the brakes were released.
  • Volkswagen had eights campaigns and 100,000 vehicles recalled. Almost 17,000 sport-utility vehicles were recalled to fix a software program that could lead to passenger air bag failure.

Toyota Ranks Well In Consumer Reports

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After all the news we have been hearing about Toyota and their problems, Consumer Reports still ranks Toyota vehicles as number three. (The same ranking as last year.) The rankings are based on performance, comfort, utility and reliability of over 280 different vehicles.

“Toyota builds extremely good, reliable cars”, said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “I think once they get through all the recalls you will see that they are a very reliable manufacturer.” The magazine ended up dropping a couple of Toyota models from the Top Picks after the company suspended sales because of the recall. Since the vehicles were not for sale at the time, they could not make the list.

Honda (which includes Acura models) and Subaru were tied for first place, the fourth year that Honda was the leading manufacturer. They were followed by Toyota, and Hyundai (including Kia) which was ranked fourth, up from ninth last year. American manufacturers fared poorly. Ford was ranked eleventh, moving up one place from last year. General Motors and Chrysler occupied the bottom two slots, respectively.

Honda Airbag Recall

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In November of 2008 and June 2009 Japan’s number two automaker, Honda, recalled a total of 510,00 vehicles for an airbag inflator. This week the recall has been expanded to include another 428,000 vehicles.

The driver’s airbag inflators in these vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture resulting in injury or fatality. The airbag defect has been linked to one fatality and eleven injuries in the United States. There have been no other reports, Honda said. All cars to be recalled globally are made at Honda’s U.S. and Canadian plants.

The latest recall applies to:

Owners of these vehicles will receive notification through the mail or can go to http://owners.honda.com/recalls or call (800) 999-1009; Acura owners can go to http://owners.acura.com/recalls or call (800) 382-2238.

Honda Ridgeline Recalled For Electrical Fire Under Dash

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After six reported fires under the dash board of the 2006-2007 Honda Ridgeline and an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it was determined that there was no defect with the H.V.A.C. fan motor connector.

Honda decided to investigate the problem by themselves, based on consumer complaints, and found that if the electrical harness was kicked by accident, it could short circuit and start a fire. Honda concluded that a short circuit would probably “self-extinguish,” but that a fire was possible, and it decided to recall.

The recall will affect 2006-2007 Ridgeline vehicles manufactured between January 17, 2005 and June 7, 2006. If you own one of these, your local Honda dealer will inspect the wiring, replace it if necessary, and fit a protective cover for the wiring, free of charge.

What About The Hydrogen Car?

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We have been hearing about electric cars lately and how auto companies are pushing to get them on the roads, but what ever happaned to the hydrogen car. Beyond the test market, hydrogen-powered cars seemed to be nothing more than research and development, but with new hydrogen technology it is no longer the dangerous fuel we were reluctant to put on the roads.

At last month’s Los Angeles auto show Honda introduced the Honda FCX Clarity, the world’s first production fuel-cell car. Befor this, BMW was leading the way in hydrogen development with their Hydrogen 7, a V12 internal combustion engine that can be powered by gasoline as well as liquid hydrogen. With a price tag of at least $250 000 only 100 celebrities and politicians have received a loaner car for evaluation and to provide feedback. The honda fuel cell car would also be quite expensive to buy, but once it goes into production for the public, the price would significantly go down.

Like the electic car, there is the problem of “fueling up”. According to H2stations.org, a website that tracks hydrogen refilling stations, there are only 10 certified filling stations in Canada (and those are used for industrial purposes), 38 in Europe and 49 in the U.S. (with more than half in California).

Honda tried to address the infrastructure problem with its experimental Home Energy Station, a self-contained unit that converts natural gas into hydrogen, but burning natural gas to produce hydrogen seems to just defeat the purpose.

Honda Mileage Over Inflated

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In March of 2007, John True of Ontario, California purchased a Honda Civic hybrid hoping that he could save a bit on fuel and do his part for the environment. He chose Honda because they had advertised their hybrid mileage as 49 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on highways. After about 6 000 miles of driving he found that it was almost impossible to reach this. Many other Honda hybrid owners came to the same conclusion including one by Consumer Reports. John filed a lawsuit against Honda claiming Honda had inflated the mileage. The settlement covers almost 160 000 people who owned or leased a 2003 through 2008 model Honda Civic Hybrid.

The class action has been settled, but more than half the nation’s state attorneys are objecting to the settlement. In this class action, Honda will send DVD’s to current and former Civic owners with tips on improving the fuel economy. Owners who trade in their Honda Civic Hybrid for certain Honda or Acura vehicles could get up to $1,000 rebate on some vehicles or $100 in cash if they had made a complaint previously. Others who no longer owned their hybrid would get a $500 coupon. “The coupons offered to consumers are of limited value: They are worth only a fraction of the price of the original car,” the attorneys general said in a court filing Monday. ” “Cars like the Honda Fit, Insight, Civic Hybrid and CRZ are the class of vehicle these hybrid owners would most likely buy, yet they have been excluded from the list.”

In the beginning of 2007 new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests, were unveiled to better reflect real world driving. As a result, fuel economy for all vehicles fell an average of 12% in the city and 8% on highways.