Barbados Today

Manager of Platinum Motors Inc., Michael Franco is seeking to reassure Honda car owners that the worldwide Takata Airbag recall is not unique to Honda, but that a number of Japanese carmakers have been affected. Furthermore, all Honda models carrying the defective part will be retrofitted with new airbags.

“This week Toyota and Nissan recalled 6.5 million vehicles worldwide added to the 25 million already deemed to contain potentially dangerous components. Daihatsu has also recalled a number of vehicles and worldwide Honda has recalled an additional 4.5 million vehicles as reported in local news,” Franco said.

Honda Worldwide has given the assurance that customers affected by the latest recall will be contacted by their local dealer to arrange an appointment to have the airbag inflators replaced.

Franco said that the local dealership was issued a directive to contact car owners directly, but this process has been slow since Platinum Motors only took over the dealership last year, and there were no records of owners of older model vehicles, just vehicle VIN numbers.

“I was quite happy to see the local press reporting on the recall as it gives us the opportunity also to seek their help in getting customers to contact us. In terms of Honda the affected models are: Accord 2001 – 2007, Civic 2001 – 2004, CR-V 2002 – 2003, Fit 2002 and Stream 2001,” Franco said.

Honda owners with the models listed should contact Platinum Motors Inc citing their chassis number to see if their vehicle is part of the recall. The dealership will replace the part at no charge to the customer.

Franco said that a number of replacement airbags were due to be dispatched shortly to Barbados by Honda America, and the replacement process will begin as soon as the components are in hand.