There has been a Global recall of Honda and Acura vehicles for airbag replacement as deployment can seriously injure or cause a fatality.
With just over one million Honda and Acura vehicles manufactured between 2001 and 2016 having faulty airbags, the Nassau Motor Company (NMC) along with US Honda dealers are checking and replacing these airbags for free during a “Free Airbag Repair Event”.
US certified technician and Assistant Manager at Honda, USA Rafael Loya, says there’s a defective component on Takata airbags that can result in serious injury or death if and when deployed.
“In the event of an accident this component called the inflator can actually end up rupturing, causing severe injuries and fatalities.
“So we’re here to replace those inflators with a new one. It’s free of charge for Honda and Acura owners,” Mr. Loya said.
The repairs, which takes about 45 minutes, is taking place on the grounds of the former City Markets on Wulff and Village Roads.
According to the Honda manager, not all cars may require the replacement, while some cars may require both airbags to be replaced.
“Some cars require driver’s side, some cars require passenger or both.
“It’s very important that anybody who has a Honda vehicle or Acura get their airbags repaired, for free.
“So far we’ve had good response we started off yesterday [Tuesday], we fixed about right over 200 airbags; our goal here is to fix right around 1,500 through Saturday.
“We invite anybody who has a Honda and Acura vehicle to come [and] check the call to see if it has a recall; if you need the recall, we have a waiting area for customers so that they can wait while their vehicle is being repaired,” Mr. Loya said.
With more than 290 injuries worldwide being linked to Takata inflators that could explode, spraying metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks, Mr. Loya said that over 300 vehicles here in Nassau have been checked and fixed and their goal is to fix around 1,500 by Saturday.
“We know, in The Bahamas, there’s a lot more vehicles and we’re considering the vehicles not just sold in the local market, but we’re also looking at the vehicles that were imported from the US or from other areas; we want to fix that as well and those are also for free.
“This morning [Wednesday] it’s been a slow start, we don’t know if it’s the weather. So far we’ve done about 50 repairs.
“We have the capacity to do over 300 repairs. We’ve brought over 17 technicians from the US plus the local staff from Nassau Motors, so combined we have over 30 or 40 people supporting the event,” Mr. Loya said.
Mr. Loya advises that if Honda and Acura owners can not get to the examination center to simply log on to hondabahamas.com/recall, enter the VIN number to know if a replacement is needed.
The “Free Airbag Repair Event” ends Saturday at 5pm.
