Honda Tells Dealers Not to Sell Used Models Until Air Bag Is Fixed?

By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN

American HondaThe 2001 Accord, one of the vehicles affected by the Honda action.

Honda has told its dealers not to sell some used models until they carry out a recall to fix an air bag defect the automaker has linked to 18 injuries and two deaths.

The problem is that the driver’s side air bag may deploy so forcefully that it sends metal shards into the driver. Under federal regulations an automaker must stop its dealers from selling new cars before carrying out a recall. However, there is no such requirement for used cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In five actions Honda has recalled almost two million vehicles since 2008 for the problem.

Earlier this month, Honda said the latest recall would apply to 2001-2 Accords, the 2001-3 Civic and Odyssey, 2002-3 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002-3 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL. It was the fourth expansion of a recall that began late in 2008 with 3,900 Civics and Accords from the 2001 model year.

In July 2009, Honda announced that it would recall 440,000 vehicles for the same problem, saying that the action was prompted by reports of “unusual” deployments. That action applied to 2001 Accords and Civics, as well as some 2002 Accords and Acura 3.2 TLs.

In a technical service bulletin sent early this month to Honda and Acura dealers about the recall, the automaker said, “Some vehicles affected by this campaign may be in your used vehicle inventory. These vehicles must be repaired before they are sold.”

Chris Martin, a Honda spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that, “Normally, dealers are required to check for any open recalls on any vehicle that they sell.”

But Honda should also be telling customers not to drive the vehicles until they are fixed, said Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. “I like symmetry – if dealers shouldn’t sell until fixed, consumers shouldn’t drive until fixed,” Mr. Ditlow wrote in an e-mail.

Mr. Martin couldn’t immediately be reached to respond to Mr. Ditlow’s suggestion.

source: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com

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