The defect
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) is recalling certain 2010-2012 Acura RL, 2010 Honda Element, and 2010-2013 Honda Ridgeline vehicles ever registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands or "Zone A." Additionally, Honda is recalling certain 2010 Acura RL, 2010-2011 Honda Element and Honda Ridgeline vehicles ever registered in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia or "Zone B." If not included in zones A or B above, Honda is recalling certain 2009 Acura RL, Honda Element, and Honda Ridgeline vehicles ever registered in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming or "Zone C." These vehicles are equipped with certain inflators assembled as part of the frontal air bag modules, and used as original equipment or replacement equipment (such as after a vehicle crash necessitating replacement of the original air bags), may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to higher absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.
The risk
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
The remedy
Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began February 16, 2018. Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are U0H, and G0I.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by ODI
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Acura RL | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 |
| Honda Element | 2009, 2010, 2011 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 |
Components: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:PASSENGER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acura RL | 2009 | 8 | 6 |
| Acura RL | 2010 | 9 | 7 |
| Acura RL | 2011 | 3 | 6 |
| Acura RL | 2012 | 1 | 6 |
| Honda Element | 2009 | 31 | 8 |
| Honda Element | 2010 | 30 | 10 |
| Honda Element | 2011 | 11 | 10 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2009 | 35 | 8 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2010 | 42 | 9 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2011 | 39 | 10 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2012 | 24 | 11 |
| Honda Ridgeline | 2013 | 45 | 7 |
Other air bags recalls in 2018
85 of the 912 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2018 concerned the air bags; Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) filed 245 campaigns in all.
| 18V912000 19 Dec 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V905000 19 Dec 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V887000 13 Dec 2018 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 18V883000 12 Dec 2018 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 18V868000 6 Dec 2018 | General Motors LLC |
| 18V838000 27 Nov 2018 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 18V836000 27 Nov 2018 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 18V806000 14 Nov 2018 | Ford Motor Company |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2018