| |
DETROIT: While it was more bad news for American motorists as Honda Motor on Wednesday recalled 412,000 vehicles in the United States including the Odyssey - the country's best-selling minivan - Singapore owners can rest easy, unaffected by the recall.
According to Honda distributor Kah Motor's product manager Vincent Ng, the Honda Odyssey here is a "completely different car, except in name" from the model found in the US. Their engines, chassis components and exterior design are different, and the Odysseys in Singapore are manufactured in Japan, he said.
The recall, due to a brake-system flaw, includes 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Elements from the 2007 and 2008 model years. The Element is not sold in Singapore.
Honda said in a statement that over time, brake pedals can feel "soft". Left unrepaired, the problem could cause loss of braking power and possibly a crash, spokesman Chris Martin said. The car-maker has traced the problem to the device that powers the electronic stability control system.
The safety recall is Honda's second in two months: Last month, it recalled 952,118 vehicles globally due to air bag problems.
This comes on the heels of Toyota's recalls of over 8 million vehicles worldwide, Nissan's recall of 540,000 vehicles and Ford asking owners of 17,600 cars to bring them in for a software update.
One news and comment portal, 24/7 Wall St, remarked after Honda's news: "Every car sold in America, and perhaps the rest of the world, is broken or dangerous to drive so it seems ... Now that almost every car company is finding defects in its products, the Toyota trouble seems nearly commonplace."
It added that with regulators in the wake of the Toyota example likely to get aggressive over defects, auto firms are under pressure to find flaws early and report them quickly.
AutoPacific Inc analyst Stephanie Brinley concurred: "Automakers are going to err on the side of caution right now. No one at this point wants to be accused of not reacting quickly."
- TODAY/sc
|
