According to recent news reports, Honda announced last Wednesday that it will be recalling more than 871,000 vehicles to fix a defect that could cause the cars to roll away when drivers thought that it has been parked securely.
The recall decision came after the giant automakers received two reports of minor injuries resulting from the defect. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether the victims have filed for product liability claims.
Following the complaints, Honda conducted an investigation which subsequently determined that when the car’s transmission was not shifted to park, its ignition interlock mechanism can be damaged or worn to the point where it is possible to remove the key.
In a statement released by Honda, it thoroughly explained that if the transmission is not in park and the parking brake is not set, the car could roll away and a car crash could occur.
Meanwhile, affected vehicles in the recall include some 347,244 Honda Odyssey, around 276,850 Honda Pilot (2003-2004 model years), and approximately 247,179 Acura MDX (2003-2006 model years). Additionally, 807,000 of the recalled vehicles will be in the United States while the rest will be in Canada.
Honda further claimed that it will send a mail notice to vehicle owners by February and will conduct the repairs free of charge.
Apparently, this is the third time this year that the Japanese automaker had conducted a product recall. It can be remembered that last May, it recalled around 53,000 Acuras with V6 engines with model years between 2003 and 2007. After a few months, Honda made another massive recall which affected roughly 572,000 mid-sized Accords for fire risk.
As by definition of a product liability claim, if a vehicle seatbelt failed to restrain a passenger during an accident due to a defective part and resulted in an injury, the automaker, including the company that designed the defective par, is a possible defendant. Therefore, this is probably what the giant automaker wants to avoid – being in a pool of defendants as a result of negligence, speculated by several personal injury lawyers.
