Instances of auto recalls are on rise ahead of the Chicago Auto Show. After Toyota, it’s now Honda joining the race! Of course, it is not the first time Honda has been embarrassed by its driver’s SRS airbag. And in that essence, Honda’s recent initiative in recalling the driver’s SRS airbag should not be considered an isolated incident; rather, it is an expansion to an earlier recall endeavor pertaining to a reported flaw in their airbag installed across various models.

Honda has recently issued a recall notification triggering a call back for around 437,763 units worldwide for a design defect in the driver’s SRS airbag. Presently, the recall is kept limited to North America and Japan only. Other regions/countries will be covered in phases for recall purposes. The current call-back notification will cover the Honda vehicles developed in 2001 and 2002 and the affected brands are Honda Accord, Civic, CL 378, CR-V, Inspire, Lagreat, Odyssey, Pilot, Saber, and TL.

The first defect in the driver’s SRS airbag was reported in the U.S. in early 2007 when it was observed that some of the driver’s SRS airbags had burst upon accidental deployment causing further injury to the occupants. A detailed investigation conducted by Honda has revealed that disproportionate moisture intake by the inflator propellant is the primary cause for the defect of the driver’s SRS airbag. On isolating the cause of the defect, Honda had first recalled defective models from the U.S. and Canada in November 2008 affecting 4,205 Honda vehicles. The second recall was made during the month of June 2009 serving around 510,150 Honda vehicles.

As a follow up to the recall, Honda is replacing the defective inflator of the airbag with a defect-free inflator.