American Honda Motor Co. (AHMC), the USA subsidiary of Honda Motor Company Ltd. (HMC), has stated that it will recall a total of 5,54,000 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in the country. It has been compelled to bring the CR-Vs made between 2002 and 2004 and Pilots manufactured in 2003 back to its workshops due to a fault with their headlight wiring system. Reportedly, the issue with the circuitry of the headlight switch can result in low beam headlights to become unresponsive, which may result in a crash. However, Honda USA has not been notified of any unfortunate incidents due to this issue, as of now.
The company stated that it will start sending notifications to model owners by the end of April 2012. Customers who may be affected by this recall can log on to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 to ascertain whether their SUVs need to undergo the repair job.
This recall is in addition to the 1,316 units of 2006 CR-V that the company recalled last week for checking and replacing their right-front lower control arms. A part of the suspension system of the model, this component is connected to the car's steering mechanism and a faulty control arm could adversely affect the model's handling and, consequently, result in a crash. At the time of that recall, the Honda said that the welding of the right-lower arm control in some of the concerned models was not as per standards and the part could get detached at the point of welding.
In the USA, the manufacturer also recalled 2,73,000 models sold under the Honda and Acura badges in December 2011 in order to change their driver-side airbag inflators. This recall affected the cars belonging to model years 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Notably, the spate of recalls has not been restricted to the USA only, as HMC's Chinese division, Dongfeng Honda, recalled 2,000 CR-Vs earlier this week. The company was compelled to announce this recall due to poor welding quality on the model's triangle arms, according to Xinhua, the consumer quality checking agency of the Communist country. Apart from that, HMC has also recalled 20,587 CR-Vs in Philippines owing to a problem with their circuitry that may force the low beam headlights of the model to become inoperative.
Toyota, another Japanese auto major, is combating recall trouble in the USA. It had to welcome back 6,81,500 units to the workshop in the country in March 2012 owing to concerns about passenger and vehicle safety. Overall, it has recalled a total of 12 million cars between 2009 and 2011. Japanese car manufacturers have been unable to rise commendably since last year's crises, including earthquake and tsunami in their home country and destructive floods in Thailand, one of the major production destinations.
Surprisingly, Honda USA registered a 7.8 per cent rise in car sales in the USA in February 2012 in spite of the series of recalls. During the period, the all new Honda CR-V overshadowed its previous record of 19,096 units by selling 24,759 vehicles, an astounding 24.5 per cent increase. At the stock exchange, HMC closed trading at $ 38.24, a fall of $ 0.59 at a base of 2,33,600 shares on March 29, 2012.
