2008 Honda Accord Recalls

As discussed further below, and by letter dated January 22, 2016, Honda is recalling certain model year (MY) 2008 through 2010 Honda Accords to replace a defective air bag/SRS control module that can result in the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) becoming fully inoperative (disabled).See NHTSA Safety Recall 16V056 at SaferCar.gov for further details.Honda's response to an agency Information Request letter indicated that the SRS module was manufactured by tier-one supplier Continental and contained a power supply ASIC manufactured by tier-two supplier Atmel. The original ASIC was susceptible to a moisture ingress issue due to inadequate ASIC passivation layer.Water ingress could result in moisture reaching the Titanium Nitride (TiN) layer in the ASIC causing corrosion and breakage of electrical circuits.The damaged ASIC then causes failures of the SRS module resulting in 1) incomplete boot-up when power is supplied to the module or 2) the inability of the module to establish either internal or external bus communications.In either case the air bag readiness indicator light on the instrument cluster is illuminated and all air bags and seat belt pretensioners are disabled.During the investigation, ODI obtained the SRS module from a complainant crash vehicle where the air bags did not deploy despite a significant frontal impact.An inspection of the module was performed at a Continental facility.The inspection confirmed that the module had the ASIC fault thus preventing the SRS module from completing the boot-up process.An attempt was made to recover stored EDR data from the module however none was present; this outcome is consistent with an Atmel ASIC failure.A second SRS module alleged to have the ASIC problem was inspected during the same visit.This second module was unable to communicate with the test equipment.The ASIC was replaced on this module and full function was restored to the module confirming the ASIC as the cause of the SRS module fault.According to Honda, tier-two Atmel implemented three different corrective actions in early 2008.Implementation of the corrective actions into module production by tier-one Continental, and into vehicle production by Honda resulted in three distinct vehicle populations.The first population consists of certain non-consecutively built MY 2008 to 2010 Accords with modules that did not contain any of the corrective actions.This population of 341,444 vehicles exhibited a significant level of module failure in service and is thus being recalled.The second population of 382,693 non-consecutively built MY 2008 to 2010 Accords contained two of the three corrective actions.This population exhibited a significantly lower level of SRS module failure, compared to the first population, but a marginally higher level compared to the third population.Honda is conducting a 15 year unlimited mileage extended warranty program for this second population.Under the program Honda will replace the SRS module free of charge for vehicles that experience an SRS module malfunction due to ASIC failure.Owners eligible for the extended warranty will be notified by Honda in writing.The third population consists of vehicles containing all three corrective actions, this population exhibits a normal level of SRS module failure.Based on the safety recall and extended warranty this investigation is closed.The VOQ reports cited above can be reviewed at SaferCar.gov under the following identification numbers: 10871612, 10869953, 10810554, 10788238, 10781994, 10778712, 10765025, 10761583, 10759019, 10758622, 10747850, 10735806, 10734761, 10733519, 10715339, 10703521, 10676517, 1065

Honda is conducting a safety recall of approximately 303,900 model year 2008-2009 Honda Accord sedans to address inadvertent deployment of the side air bags (see NHTSA recall 15V-665 for more information).It should be noted that almost all of the recalled vehicles are the 2008 Accords (built from start of model year 2008 production to June 25, 2008) as only about 500 early-built 2009 Accords (built from June 24 to June 30, 2008) are included in the recall.The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has identified 351 reported incidents of inadvertent side air bag deployments in the 2008 Accord sedans.This investigation found there is risk of serious injury to vehicle occupants or users who are positioned in the direct path of a deploying side curtain air bag.Based on the recall action taken by Honda, this Engineering Analysis is closed.Additional information on this closing resume and the investigation are in the EA14-004 public file available on-line at SaferCar.gov.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers:10232206 10235294 10255323 10268158 10268191 10269514 10276755 10279446 10280675 10308292 10319979 10342520 10353536 10408925 10436506 10447151 10458732 10468196 10468200 10493407 10494971 10522291 10524389 10543092 10544473 10545258 10547591 10554073 10563629 10565311 10565423 10576518 10579241 10584501 10585442 10606937 10608973 10627302 10638541 10640968 10650861 10654858 10679518 10680063 10683967 10712981 10717410 10717777 10761860

ODI has identified 293 incidents of alleged inadvertent deployment of the side air bags in model year (MY) 2008 Honda Accord 4-door vehicles.This total represents all incidents reported to both ODI and Honda including those from Honda's warranty system (note: the total shown above eliminates all duplicative reports to ODI and Honda).This investigation has revealed that when the driver or front passenger door is shut, the driver-side or passenger-side side curtain air bag can deploy, and in some cases, the side seat-mounted torso air bag can deploy as well.Fourteen people allegedly suffered injuries caused by the deploying air bags.In June 2008, near the end of MY 2008 Accord 4-door production, Honda changed the crash parameter for door closing force, which is embedded in the electronic control unit's software code, in order to reduce the incidents of the inadvertent side air bag deployments.More specifically, the software design change was made on June 5, 2008 for the Accords built in the U.S. and on June 30, 2008 for those built in Japan.ODI found the number of the inadvertent deployment incidents declined significantly for the vehicles with the new crash parameter setting, i.e., the late-built MY 2008 vehicles and all MY 2009 vehicles.Honda reported the Accord 2-door model utilizes a different software/crash parameter than the subject 4-door model.This Preliminary Evaluation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA14-004) to determine, among other things, the risk of air bag deployment injuries to vehicle users in vulnerable positions.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10232206, 10235294, 10255323, 10268158, 10268191, 10269514, 10276755, 10279446, 10280675, 10308292, 10319979, 10342520, 10353536, 10408925, 10436506, 10447151, 10458732, 10468196, 10468200, 10493407, 10494971, 10522291, 10524389, 10543092, 10544473, 10545258, 10547591, 10554073, 10563629, 10565311, 10565423, 10576518, 10579241, 10584501, 10585442, 10606937, 10608973.