JAPAN TODAY
 
SHANGHAI — Japanese carmaker Honda will recall almost 570,000 vehicles in China from February due to potentially defective airbags, China’s quality watchdog said.
 
Honda’s two Chinese joint ventures have filed their plans with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to recall 553,264 cars from Feb 28, the government body said in a statement Tuesday.
 
The recall involves 527,136 Accord sedans made by GAC-Honda, a joint venture with China’s Guangzhou Automobile Group, from May 2002 to December 2007, according to the statement.
 
Another 26,128 multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) that Dongfeng-Honda, a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group, made under the Elysion brand between June 2012 and June 2014, will also be affected, it added.
 
A possibly defective front airbag on the driver’s side could break its inflator casing when it deploys and send fragments flying, the quality watchdog said in the statement.
 
“It may harm passengers inside the vehicle and pose safety hazards,” it added.
 
GAC-Honda will also recall another 16,505 Fit Saloons it made between October 2002 and December 2003 for a similar fault on the passenger side, the watchdog said separately.
 
The statements did not name the airbags’ maker, but Japan’s Nikkei paper said last week that Honda will expand its recall of cars fitted with airbags made by Takata to cover a total of 13 million vehicles worldwide.
 
Malfunctioning Takata airbags have been linked with five deaths, including a woman driving a 2003 Honda City in Malaysia, and hundreds of injuries.