Japanese automaker Honda has recently issued four auto recall-related announcements on its official **, one of which involves a large-scale recall of more than 1.13 million vehicles.
According to the announcement, Honda will recall a total of 1138046 vehicles in the Japanese market, which is a large-scale recall action. The recalled models cover 25 Honda models manufactured between June 2017 and September 2020. The recalled models include not only many of Honda's best-selling models in Japan, but also 204 NSX sports cars exported to the Japanese market by its U.S. subsidiary, AHM.
Honda revealed that the reason for the large-scale recall is a problem with the impeller of the low-pressure fuel pump equipped with the recalled model. The resin used in the impeller is too low, which causes the impeller itself to deform, which can eventually come into contact with the fuel pump cover and rub against each other, which in turn can cause a failure such as a sudden engine shutdown while the car is in motion.
It should be noted that the faulty fuel pumps involved in this recall are all produced by Japan's Denso Group, which is Japan's largest auto parts manufacturer, and its fuel pumps are widely used in major Japanese car brands. This is not the first time that Honda has recalled a model due to a problem with the fuel pump manufactured by Denso, but it is the sixth consecutive recall by Honda due to the same problem at Denso.
In addition to Honda, Denso's fuel pump problems have led to recalls by several Japanese automakers, including Toyota, Daihatsu, Suzuki, Mazda, and Subaru. Since March 2020, nearly 3.83 million vehicles from six automakers in Japan have been recalled due to a faulty fuel pump from Denso. Among them, last month alone, Toyota launched a recall plan for nearly 330,000 vehicles of 22 models in China.
Regarding the severity of the failure, Honda said that in the worst-case scenario, there is a possibility that the engine will stall while driving. However, to date, there have been no reports of accidents due to this malfunction. As a fuel pump manufacturer, Denso executives have formally apologized to Honda and related parties for the accident and promised to take prompt action to deal with the problem.
In addition to the recall plan involving 1.13 million vehicles, Honda also announced another smaller vehicle improvement announcement on the same day, which involves about 520,000 vehicles in 14 models owned by Honda. According to the announcement, some models have brake pedal quality problems due to the manufacturing process, and it will be more laborious to pedal when used. In response to this problem, Honda officials said that it will take time to prepare for the improvement of parts, and the relevant improvement plan is still in preparation.
Honda's large-scale recall in Japan is significant, and it is unclear whether the action will spread to the Chinese market.