Air bags aren’t any good if they don’t deploy, and the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is making sure Honda’s 2008 Accords are in compliance with this principle.
The government agency, according to Auto News, is now investigating car manufacturer Honda for a series of 19 complaints, in which consumers say air bags in their 2008 Honda Accords failed to deploy during an accident.
No deaths were reported from the air bag failure and, of the 19 incidents reported to the NHTSA, only one failure resulted in an injury. The severity of the injury is not known.
Among the complaints filed to the NHTSA was that of a parent who said her son “ran into a concrete block wall” and that the “air bags did not deploy.”
A person filed a complaint saying, ‘My son was driving my car and did not make a turn and ran into a concrete block wall at about 50 miles per hours. The air bags did not deploy.’
Other complaints included repair estimates. One person from Maryland said that a local Honda dealer quoted him a replacement cost of $700, while another person said they had to pay $500 “out-of-pocket” for parts and labor.
The root of the problem, according to a Reuters report about the investigation, is control module that prevents the “air bags from deploying.”
Malfunction of the air bag control module may prevent air bags from deploying in a crash. This malfunction causes the air bag status/readiness indicator lamp to illuminate.
A spokesman from Honda told Reuters that the company is “cooperating with the NHTSA,” and that the faulty part was not made by Takata, the manufacturer who came under fire earlier this year for faulty air bags in a series of car makes and models.
A possible recall on 384,000 2008 Accord sedans may take place of the NHTSA decides the move is necessary.
