Honda supports plan to deregister cars with faulty Takata airbags

AS THE Takata airbag recall saga rages on, Honda Australia has backed a call to cancel a car’s registration if it has not had faulty airbag replaced. Meanwhile, the company admitted that it is struggling to locate the final 20 percent of vehicles requiring the crucial update.

The idea of cancelling the vehicle’s registration was floated at a meeting between Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Australian automotive executives in Melbourne earlier this week, as thousands of car owners continue to ignore calls to take their vehicles in for repair.

The power to cancel vehicle registrations lies with the state governments, and Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said it will be impossible for it to replace the faulty inflators in remaining cars without their support.

“The ultimate solution is you can't register your car, or sell it, unless it's repaired,” said Collins.

Collins told Wheels Honda has spent “tens of millions” of dollars in Australia to fix the problem, which includes implementing the repairs and operating a round-the-clock call centre to find owners. The cost of the replacement inflators themselves is not included in that sum

The company has so far tracked down and replaced 80 per cent of the faulty inflators, which is significantly more than the 30 percent average among the other affected manufacturers in Australia.

Nevertheless, the remaining 20 per cent represents more than 94,000 Honda vehicles subject to 19 different Takata recalls affecting models built as far back as 2001.

Many of these include the notorious ‘Alpha’ inflators which have been directly linked to several deaths around the world including one in Sydney.

Collins said the company is sending out letters and text messages and even going door-to-door to try and find owners to get their cars to dealerships and offering compensation in the form of transport costs or hire cars.

Honda has also issued an even more graphic recall letter with the headline “Choosing Not to Act Could Be Deadly” accompanied by images of the damage caused by faulty inflators.

Collins said the majority of these remaining affected vehicles are owned by people who do not service through the Honda dealer network; or their current contact details are not known to the company.

“We are urging customers of vehicles who service outside the Honda network to have their vehicle repaired, free of charge, as soon as possible.

“Unfortunately there are still some customers of affected vehicles who are simply not responding to repeated attempts by the company to contact them and have their airbag inflators replaced. We need to change this behaviour.

“We encourage all Australians, if they have a friend or family member who owns a Honda vehicle, to urge them to jump on the Honda Australia website to check if their vehicle is affected. If their vehicle has been recalled they must act on it, even if they don’t service with us. All repairs will be done free of charge,” Collins said.

One of the biggest issues has been reaching customers in remote areas, so Honda has been sending repair teams as part of an outreach program.

The company even sent two technicians to Mt Isa to complete the repairs and others to Western Australia to reach customers in Kununurra, Exmouth, Karratha, Port Hedland, Broome, Newman, Esperance, and Tom Price; as well as Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Honda is also targeting remote towns such as Whyalla and Broken Hill, and plans to send two mechanics from Adelaide to Port Augusta, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln in November.

It even plans to send repairers to Thursday Island at the top end of Queensland.

Elsewhere, Honda dealers are completing up to 7000 airbag inflator repairs per week with some service departments opening on Saturdays to facilitate repairs.

Customers can check if their Honda vehicle is affected through the recall webpages at honda.com.au/recall

The website has a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) check tool to enable customers to see if their vehicle is affected.

Customers can also call the dedicated Honda recall centre on 1800 789 839 between 8 am and 9 pm Monday to Friday; as well as Saturday and Sunday 8.30 am to 5.00 pm.

Owners of other vehicles can check their manufacturer websites or the ACCC’s Product Safety Australia Recalls website to see if their car is affected.