Reports: Honda, Ford Set To Expand Airbag Related Vehicle Recalls To Nationwide

(RTTNews) - Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., Ltd.'s (HMC) American Honda Motor Co., are set to expand their recall nationwide related to the potentially defective driver's side airbags made by Japanese parts supplier Takata Corp., according to media reports on Wednesday. The faulty airbag inflater is causing the airbags to rupture on impact.

U.S. automaker Ford Co. (F) is also reportedly looking to expand its recall across all states in the U.S. related to potentially defective airbag inflater on the passenger side made by Takata.

The issue of airbag rupture was first reported in 2008 and reportedly more than 16 million vehicles are recalled since then. Five deaths have been linked to faulty airbags around the globe.

The recalls will be made on the request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, which called for the expansion of the recall to all 50 U.S. states from the few southern states and U.S. territories at present.

The automakers have mostly limited their recalls to Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

NHTSA made a call to the automaker's after Takata did not heed to their request for a nationwide recall expansion. NHTSA has also requested other automaker's such as BMW AG (BAMXY.PK, BAMXF.PK, BMW.L), Mazda Motor Corp. (MZDAF.PK) and Chrysler Group LLC (FCAU) to expand their airbag recalls, but none have done so.

However, Takata has maintained that there is currently no data evidence that supports a nationwide recall.

Meanwhile, a nationwide recall by the two automakers itself will make it difficult for Takata to replace all the airbags as it does not have enough capacity. It could reportedly take more than two years for the replacements due to parts shortage.

Taking this into account, Honda is already looking at other options and has reportedly decided to go to Takata rivals Swedish supplier AutoLiv, Inc. (ALV) and Japan's Daicel Corp. instead, a process that may also take about six months.

NHTSA now has the authority to slap Takata and other automakers with a fine of up to $7,000 per day per vehicle or a maximum of $35 million, for not adhering to its request for a nationwide recall. NHTSA has said it is still reviewing Takata's response to determine what steps to take next.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, TYT.L) has also in late November initiated a recall of more than 57,000 vehicles globally, for possible airbag defects. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (NSANY.PK) has also been plagued by similar recalls.

F closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $16.01, up $0.11 or 0.69% on a volume of 37.56 million shares, and HMC closed at $30.98, up $0.22 or 0.72% on a volume of 1.79 million shares.