Honda to recall 57,676 units of City, Jazz, Civic in India

Japanese car maker Honda Cars India (HCIL) has announced recall of 57,676 vehicles of previous generation of City, Jazz and Civic to fix airbag inflator.

In a press statement, HCIL said that it would recall 49,572 City sedan, 7,504 Jazz hatchback and 600 units of the Civic premium sedan, which has been discontinued now. The replacement would be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India in a phased manner, starting from 20th February 2016, and the company will also communicate with customers directly.

The recall is part of the airbag problem that has forced parent Honda Motor Company to recall millions of cars worldwide and almost half a million cars have been affected in the Indian subcontinent too. The company had recalled 223,578 vehicles of previous generations of CR-V, Civic, City and Jazz last year to replace its airbags as part of its preventive global recall campaign concerning airbag inflators.

Honda Cars India, which operates out of India since 1995, with two manufacturing facilities at Greater Noida, UP and Tapukara in Rajasthan, has announced its fourth major recall in the past one year after the company had found problem in 90,210 units of the diesel variants of City and the Mobilio MPV that required replacement in the fuel pipe.

It had also recalled 3,879 units of automatic variant of Honda City manufactured from February 2014 to November 2014 to update the software that manages the continuously variable transmission (CVT). The control software was to be updated to optimize the hydraulic pressure applied to the CVT.

Car manufactures have been recalling cars on pro-actively to gain consumer confidence and improve their safety quotient as there is no mandated policy to recall cars till now. The government is now working on some recall provisions that are likely to be incorporated in the new Motor Vehicle Act that is currently under legislative review.