Honda, Acura owners urged to have airbags repaired

From left, Rob Stewart, Matt Deets, Calvin DLG Yamagishi, Bert Gonzalez, Wayne Waszkiewicz, and Rafael Loya show the sufficient airbag inflator supply on island. (Bea Cabrera)

People who own Honda and Acura vehicles that are 2001 models or newer are being encouraged to have their vehicles’ airbags repaired to prevent injuries and ultimately to save lives.

The U.S. government has, according to an Associated Press story, set a Dec. 31, 2017 deadline to finish the recalls, most of which began in mid-2015, and the local dealer of Honda and Acura vehicles, Joeten Motors Corp., will be hosting a three-day outreach starting today to do the free airbag repairs.

Honda and Acura repair technicians will be conducting a free airbag repairs on Aug. 10, 11, and 12, 2017, from 8am to 5pm at the Joeten Motors showroom on Beach Road. Appointment is not needed and the free airbag repair will continue even after these events.

“We fix you car while you wait and enjoy the snacks prepared,” said Joeten Motors service manager Calvin DLG Yamagashi.

Actual work time is probably 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

“This is 100-percent free and we are not trying to sell anybody anything. We are just here to fix airbag inflators and keep your cars safe,” Yamagashi added.

Factory-trained technicians will be here to implement the repairs.

Honda parts and service manager Wayne Waszkiewicz said: “We try to improve the repair rate and market it on the island so that all these people who owns these units will bring them in [and] get them fixed because their lives are in jeopardy.”

Waszkiewicz said that Honda and Acura have done similar events in other countries. “We find that we can get 80 to 150 repairs done in a day. If we could get over a 100 a day on island, that will be awesome.”

These free repair events come in the wake of a massive worldwide recall on defective Takata airbag inflators that can hurl shrapnel at drivers and passengers involved in a crash. At least 18 deaths have been reported worldwide, including 12 in the U.S., that are being blamed on defective Takata inflators.

Waszkiewicz said the Takata issue affects almost all car manufacturers and not just Honda. “It affected Honda most because we used a lot of Takata airbags.”

The defect is in the manufacturing design of the actual airbag inflator itself. Over time and especially in a hot and humid environment like of Saipan’s, the propellant inside the inflator can break down.

“Once you get into an accident and the sensors fire the airbag after a crash, the pressure rises and spikes way higher than normal and that actually explodes the housing that contains that propellant. That housing is made up of stainless steel and can actually spray shrapnel toward the vehicle occupants,” Waszkiewicz said.

“That is why we want to keep the customer safe. We cannot overemphasize the importance of getting the vehicles affected checked and repaired,” he added.

There are about 450 Honda vehicles on island that are affected and are waiting to be repaired.

Waszkiewicz said these 450 vehicles need to be fixed. “But there are 55 ultra-critical units that needs to be replaced. We call those alpha vehicles. They are ultra-critical because the failure rate of those is 50 percent. If somebody who owned one of these vehicle were to get in an accident, 50 percent of the [airbags] will actually explode and spray metal fragments toward the occupants of the car. That is how serious this is.”