Honda recalls 668,000 vehicles equipped with Takata's potentially lethal air bags

Honda Motor Co. on Thursday announced it was recalling 668,816 vehicles in Japan to replace potentially faulty passenger-seat air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. in the latest expansion of Honda's recall started earlier this year.

Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, said the recall would span 16 models that were produced between January 2009 and December 2011.

The recall includes Honda's hugely popular Fit subcompact hatchback, as well as its Accord and Civic sedan models. It also covers Honda's Insight hybrid and hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered FCX Clarity models.

The Tokyo-headquartered automaker said the recall was made based on a wider recall involving more than 15 million units in Japan that may have been equipped with Takata Corp.-made air bag inflators that could explode and spray potentially fatal shrapnel inside the cars' interiors.

Takata Corp.'s airbags have been central to global recalls of millions of vehicles by major automakers worldwide.

The faulty air bag inflators use ammonium nitrate as a propellant to inflate the bag, but the propellant can become destabilized after exposure to moisture or heat due to the lack of a drying agent and explode, spraying the cars' cabins with lethal shards of metal. Numerous deaths and injuries have been reported as a result of Takata's faulty air bag inflators.

The filing for the latest recall was made by Honda with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, with the ministry urging other automakers here to expand the scope of their Takata-related recalls in line with an expanded recall order issued by the U.S. road safety regulator.

Honda has stated it will no longer use air bag inflators made by Takata in its new models and the replacement inflators are being sourced from a different company.

Takata's faulty air bags have resulted in 14 deaths globally and have been linked to 150 injuries, according to official sources. Endit