Honda's Latest Fit: 936,000 Cars Recalled World-Wide

Honda will recall nearly one million cars globally to repair an electrical problem and software glitch from its Fit and CR-V, and CR-Z compact hybrid lines.

The massive recall is the second for Honda in recent weeks. In August, Honda recalled 2.3 million cars to fix a transmission issue. Honda had sailed last year when Toyota faced massive recalls issues and even had to appear before Congress to answer questions about its response to safety questions, but now a run of bad news has plagued Honda.

In addition to the recalls, Honda received a scathing Consumer Reports review for its 2012 model year Civic compact car, perennially a bestseller for the Japanese automaker. The magazine headline n its Aug. 1 issue said 2012 Honda Civic LX: Scores too low for Consumer Reports to recommend.

Honda said the latest recalls will cost the company about $17 million in Japan. Honda is the third-largest car manufacturer by volume in Japan.

The Civic has long ranked among Consumer Reports' top small sedans but the magazine said, The new Civic feels insubstantial with a cheap interior. You don't get much feature content for the $19,405 that our Civic LX automatic costs, either. That's a problem given the high bar set in this class by the new-to-market Chevrolet Cruze, the redesigned-for-2012 Ford Focus, and the redesigned-for-2011 Hyundai Elantra.

Now, the company is facing back-to-back massive recalls with other model cars.

In the latest, announced on Labor Day, Honda is recalling 936,000 cars worldwide from its Fit and CR-V lines to replace the master switch for the cars' power windows. The company said a design flaw can allow residue to window cleaners to accumulate, and that over time that can degrade the switch's electrical contacts and potentially cause a fire.

Fit models being recalls are in Japan, China, the U.S. and Europe.

Honda said no injuries have been reported from the problem. The company also said that 80,111 CR-V's from the 2006 model year are affected in the U.S.

Honda is also recalling cars from its CR-Z compact hybrid line equipped with manual transmission. The company says a software glitch could allow the motor under some conditions to rotate in the opposite direction from the transmission's gear, potentially allowing the car to roll backwards when the transmission is in forward gear.

No injuries have been reported from this problem either, the company said.

Honda plans to fix that problem with a software upgrade. The CR-Z recall affects 26,000 worldwide and 5,626 cars in the U.S.

Honda's stock tumbled on Monday in Tokyo trading after the report, ending the day 4.7 percent lower.