Older Hondas at 'Grave' Risk of Airbag Deployment: NHTSA

Washington, DC — Federal safety regulators made an urgent call Thursday to find the owners of more than 300,000 older model Honda and Acura vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflators that have a “grave” risk of being life threatening.

The risk of a dangerous rupture in a crash is as high as 50 percent, and certain vehicles are unsafe to drive until they are repaired, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

“Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to the dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a bulletin.

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At least 10 deaths — including one recently in Texas when a fragment severed an artery in a teenage driver’s neck — and more than 100 injuries have been linked to the defect.

Though the vehicles are already under recall, NHTSA ordered Takata to perform additional ballistic testing following recent reports of ruptures.

The higher-risk inflators are in certain 2001-2003 Honda and Acura vehicles:

• 2001-2002 Honda Civic
• 2001-2002 Honda Accord
• 2002-2003 Acura TL
• 2002 Honda CR-V
• 2002 Honda Odyssey
• 2003 Acura CL
• 2003 Honda Pilot

The vehicles were recalled between 2008 and 2011. Honda said more than 70 percent of the higher-risk vehicles have already been repaired, but about 313,000 still need the fix, regulators said.

The risk is greater for vehicles that spent significant time in areas with high absolute humidity, especially Florida, Texas, other parts of the Gulf Coast and Southern California, safety regulators said.

More than 60 million vehicles have been recalled by 14 automakers in the United States, and millions more overseas, have been recalled due to the Takata airbag defect. You can find complete information about the Takata air bag inflator recall here.