Honda fails to report 1,700 accidents to US safety regulators

Honda has lately been under the gun for issues surrounding the safety of their deployed airbags – although made by a subsidiary company, it has been a large problem.

Now, it appears that Honda may again come under intense scrutiny as there have been unreported accidents involving their vehicles that number in the thousands. These are records that are meant to help the NHTSA maintain records of safety problems and accidents in order to maintain a grasp of how different vehicles are performing on the road and in accidents.

In lawsuits filed in the US, Honda, which has recalled roughly 6m vehicles to replace the faulty airbags, has been accused of being aware of the defect for more than a decade – an allegation that the automaker has denied.

The audit identified 1,729 instances of under reporting of accidents involving its vehicles between July 1 2003 and June 30 2014. Honda blamed the lapses on “inadvertent data entry and computer programming errors”, as well as a narrow understanding of the US law on “early warning” requirements.

The 2000 US Tread Act requires carmakers to report on a quarterly basis death or injury incidents and any other information that could indicate a potential safety defect. The NHTSA can fine vehicle manufacturers up to $35m for failing to meet reporting obligations.

US law also holds car makers criminally liable if they intentionally violate the reporting requirements and a safety defect causes death or serious injury.

“Honda takes these findings extremely seriously. We are taking immediate corrective action, and we continue to fully co-operate with the NHTSA to resolve this matter,” said Rick Schostek, Honda executive vice-president.

“Honda takes these findings extremely seriously. We are taking immediate corrective action, and we continue to fully co-operate with the NHTSA to resolve this matter”

Nearly 8m vehicles by 10 carmakers including Honda, Toyota and Chrysler have been recalled in the US because of potential airbag problems. US regulators recently widened their advice to carmakers to recall affected vehicles to cover the whole of US, rather than just the most humid regions.

Of the underreported incidents, Honda said only eight involved Takata airbag inflator ruptures. It also claimed that Takata-related incidents – including one fatality – were disclosed to the NHTSA using methods other than the early-warning report system.

The latest findings raise questions on why the carmaker had not addressed the underreporting in spite of recognising the problem in 2011. “Honda acknowledges that it lacked the urgency needed to correct its problems on a timely basis,” it said.

The company also said it had taken steps to ensure the omissions do not occur again, including computer programming fixes and data entry training. Honda fails to report 1,700 accidents to US safety regulators – FT.com