Honda recalls 2.24 lakh vehicles in India for faulty airbags

Replacement of faulty airbags will be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) is recalling around 2.24 lakh units of its premium sports utility vehicles -- CR-V, sedans Civic, City and hatchback Jazz, manufactured between 2003 and 2012 -- to replace faulty airbag inflators in the largest such exercise in the country.

Under the recall, which is a part of its parent Honda's global initiative to replace the faulty airbags, HCIL will voluntarily replace airbag inflators of 2,23,578 vehicles of previous generations of CR-V, Civic, City and Jazz, the company said in a statement.

The exercise will cover 13,073 units of CR-V manufactured between 2004-11; 54,290 units of Civic sedan produced between 2003-2012; 1,40,508 units of its popular sedan City made between 2007 and 2012 and 15,707 units of premium hatchback Jazz manufactured between 2009 and 2011, it added.

"The replacement would be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India in a phased manner, starting October 12, 2015 and the company will communicate with customers directly," HCIL said.

Globally, Honda had announced recall of over two million units to replace faulty airbags provided by its supplier Takata Corp.

Automobile manufacturers have been recalling vehicles on safety issues since industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) initiated a voluntary policy in July 2012.

A total of 10,85,064 vehicles have been recalled so far in India by various companies ever since it started. As per SIAM data, the previous biggest recalls in India were by Ford of about 1.66 lakh units of its Figo and Fiesta classic models in September 2013 and General Motors' recall of 1.55 lakh units of Beat, Spark and Enjoy models in July this year.