Honda to Recall 936000 Cars World-Wide - Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—Honda Motor Co. said Monday it will voluntarily recall nearly 1 million cars globally to repair problems with power windows and computer equipment.

Honda said no serious injuries or fatal accidents have been reported due to the problems, and the repair bill will be limited to about $17 million in Japan.

But the latest move comes hard on the heels of another large recall and adds to Honda's headaches as it seeks to join local peers in bouncing back from production disruption in the aftermath of the March 11 disasters. Japan's auto makers must also cope with the yen riding high at near record-strength versus other major currencies like the dollar, making their exports more expensive and less competitive.

Reuters A Honda Fit in a Tokyo showroom this summer.

Honda, Japan's third-biggest car maker by volume, recalled more than 2.3 million vehicles in early August, citing problems with automatic transmissions.

On Monday Honda said it will recall 936,000 Fit compacts, CR-V and City models in Japan, China, the U.S., Europe and other countries in Asia and Africa due to defective power-window switch units.

A Honda spokeswoman said that two members of the public reported light burns after touching overheated power switches. She also said there were nine reported cases of vehicles catching on fire in Japan and China due to the power-window problem.

The car maker will also recall 26,000 CR-Z hybrid models in Japan, the U.S., Canada and other markets because of defective programming of electronic control units for motors used in the model.

For both recalls, the company will spend a combined ¥1.29 billion ($16.8 million) in Japan, a Honda spokeswoman said. She declined to elaborate on the costs of the overseas recalls.

On Monday, as auto sector stocks in Tokyo were depressed by the strength of the yen, Honda shares tumbled after the company announced the recall. Honda shares ended the day 4.7% lower, while Toyota Motor Corp. shares dropped 2.6% and the Nikkei Stock Average shed 1.9%.

--Kenneth Maxwell contributed to this article.

Write to Yoshio Takahashi at yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com

View the original article here