Honda Recalls More Than 2 Million Vehicles, Including Accords, in US and China
On Friday, Honda Motor Co. announced plans to recall a total of 2.25 million vehicles in the United States and China due to a software problem with the automatic transmission in its Accord, CR-V, and several other models.
Without the software, automatic transmission in these automobiles could be damaged if a driver shifted too quickly. This could cause the engine to stall or make it difficult to park the car.
Honda voluntarily recalled around 1.5 million vehicles in the United States, 760,000 in China and 135,142 in Canada to update the automatic transmission control software.
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The number of automobiles to be recalled is equal to 63 percent of the 3.56 million vehicles the company sold worldwide last year.
The recall is globally issued for four-cylinder 2005 through 2010 Accord sedans.
The US and Canada recall includes the 2007 to 2010 CR-V crossover and the small SUV Element, 2005 to 2008 models.
Over 160,000 Odyssey minivans manufactured in 2005 to 2009 are being recalled in China. The recall also includes 4,000 Spirior cars for the 2010 model year.
Consumer reports recently said it would not recommend the 2012 Honda Civic. This statement has led industry analysts to question if the recall is a sign of larger problems for the company.
Honda Motor ranked fifth in U.S. sales this year.
Company spokesman Chris Martin issued a statement on Friday that the recall was not a sign of further complications.
The Honda recall is a result “of extremely unusual circumstances," said Martin. "The far majority of our consumers would never really encounter this. It’s software programming. It’s not a weakness in the transmission per se."
Martin also stated that no injuries or deaths in the U.S. or China have been reported from this problem.
The software update should take about 30 minutes, but customers might have to leave their vehicles at Honda dealerships for a longer period, said Martin.
Honda will alert U.S. consumers at the end of August. The automaker did not comment on the expected cost of the recall.
No affected Honda auto models were sold in Japan.
