 "Honda announces India's largest vehicle recall")
Japanese carmaker Honda has said it will voluntarily recall 223,578 vehicles manufactured between 2003 and 2011 to replace airbag inflators, the single-largest recall in the Indian passenger vehicle market. Through the exercise, set to begin on October 12, the company will recall the City, Civic, Jazz and CR-V models.
With this, Honda has surpassed the likes of GM and Ford, in terms of companies recalling vehicles in large numbers at a go.
“The replacement would be carried out free of cost at Honda Car dealerships across India in a phased manner, starting October 12, and the company will communicate with customers directly,” read a company statement.
Most of the replacements relate to driver-side airbag inflators. An inflator helps inflate airbags in case of a major collision.
This is the fourth recall by Honda in 15 months. In May this year, it had recalled 11,381 units of the Accord, CR-V and Civic manufactured between 2003 and 2007 to replace a faulty part in passenger and driver-side airbags.
In July last year, the company recalled 1,338 units of the Accord and CR-V models manufactured between 2002 and 2003 to replace faulty inflators in the passenger-side airbags. Subsequently, in October 2014, it recalled 2,338 units of the Brio, Amaze and CR-V manufactured between September 2011 and July 2014 to replace faulty inflators.
India does not have a mandatory recall policy for vehicles, though companies have voluntarily announced recalls from time to time. With today's announcement, about a million passenger vehicles have been recalled by different domestic players since July 2012 when industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers announced a voluntary recall code for its member companies.
