Air Bag Recalls: Honda Recalls 143,000 Vehicles In Japan

Honda Motor Co. recalled about 143,000 vehicles in Japan after air bags made by Daicel Corp. — a rival of troubled Takata Corp. — failed to deploy in an accident, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The recall followed confirmation Wednesday of a death in the U.S., the tenth involving a ruptured Takata air-bag inflator in the country.

The Japanese recall is unrelated to Takata’s massive global recall of about 24 million cars from 14 manufacturers installed in cars dating back more than a decade. Honda vehicles are the most affected due to a long relationship between Takata and Japan’s second-largest automaker.

Earlier in January, Daicel said it would boost production of air bag inflators to take up the slack in supply due to Takata’s quality problems.

The propellant used in the Daicel air bag inflators weren’t suitable and had “inappropriate velocity,” Misato Fukushima, a spokeswoman for Honda, told Bloomberg. The car manufacturer also specified that the faulty air bags from Daicel were not used as replacements for Takata air bags in recalled vehicles.

Daicel has stopped production of the inflator and is cooperating with Honda to conduct the recall, Daicel spokesman Masahiko Hirokawa told Bloomberg.

Daicel’s shares fell 1.38 percent in Tokyo while Honda Motors shares were down 0.58 percent Thursday. Takata’s stock was also down 1.42 percent.

Earlier this week, Honda recalled 160,000 Fit subcompact and Vezel sport-utility vehicles in Japan due to defective power steering and a part that controls electric current in the cars.