Honda will recall around 341000 Accord sedans in USA over restraint system

Logo of German tyre company Continental is pictured at the headquarters in Hanover, April 25, 2014.

Honda and Takata have been aware of the defect since at least 2004, when an air bag ruptured in a 2002 Honda Accord.

Honda said a new restraint system control unit will be installed for free. It also added that 74 injury accusations in connection with air bags that failed to deploy have yet to be verified.

Perhaps the biggest problem posed by the Continental recall is it puts more stress on the supply of replacement airbags for Takata, said Brauer. However, due to the large volume of new parts needed to fix affected units, the necessary parts will not be available until Fall 2016.

Fiat Chrysler has plans on recalling some 112,000 2009 Dodge Journeys, 2008 and 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan, as well as Chrysler Town & Country minivans. Then in 2011, Mercedes and Fiat Chrysler reported inadvertent airbag deployments, while past year, Honda reported two airbag non-deployments in 2008 Honda Accords.

Continental told the NHTSA the callback would also involve vehicles built by Volvo Trucks North America and Mazda Motor Corp. A number of other manufacturers are affected by this problem, as well.

Meanwhile, an analyst thinks that the Continental air bag recall can't be compared to the Takata air bag recall, mainly because fewer vehicles are impacted by Continental's recall.

Defective Takata inflators have been linked to nine USA deaths since 2004, all but one of them in older Honda vehicles.

Initial reports on Wednesday indicated about 1.7 million vehicles would be recalled as part of an expanding investigation into the Takata defect.

The 13 models recalled in Japan cover the 2005 to 2014 model years and include a popular subcompact called the Fit.

The affected models have a dual-stage, driver-side frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion over time, which may cause an inflator to rupture in a crash, the automaker said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety on Thursday said Continental will notify automakers to recall cars dating back to 2006. Continental said it did not receive any complaints after another change was made at the end of 2010 and completed in 2011.

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