1993 Turbo Honda Prelude H22a on 2040-cars

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New death linked to Takata airbag crisis, Honda recalls 170k vehicles overseas

The safety crisis surrounding Takata's exploding airbags continues to expand. In the latest revelation, Honda confirms another death linked to the faulty parts, and the company is expanding its recall of the components. However, none of the newly added vehicles are in the United States.
With the confirmation of this report, there are now five deaths linked to the faulty airbags. According to The New York Times, a pregnant woman in Malaysia was killed on July 27 in a 2003 Honda City when she crashed into another vehicle, and the inflator ruptured. This was the first announced case outside of the US.
The faulty part in the woman's car was reportedly made at a now-closed Takata factory in Georgia, according to the NYT, and it's the first known example from that location. In response, Honda recalled about 170,000 vehicles in Europe and Asia to replace the potentially bad inflators. The latest campaign brings the total number of recalled vehicles worldwide to around 14.3 million units.

eBay Find of the Day: Ayrton Senna's 1993 Honda NSX

It's not often that things owned by the late Ayrton Senna come up for sale, but the seller of this black-on-black 1993 Honda NSX (aka, Acura NSX) eBay find claims it was once owned by the Formula One legend, and that he left a footprint on the factory carpet that can still be seen today. (Footprint, or vacuum lines?...)
NSX no. T000999 was given to Senna as a gift from his mentor and sponsor, Antonio de Almeida Braga, the seller claims, and it was stored at a palace near the Estoril F1 circuit in Portugal. He also was known to drive two other NSXs, a black one and a red one - the latter in which he was seen often.
The seller claims to have owned T000999, which is still in Portugal, for 17 years, and the 31,000-mile odometer indicates it was driven about 1,500 miles per year on average. Thankfully the car has been kept stock, so whoever buys it can enjoy driving it just as Senna did - that is, if the car actually is what it's claimed to be. If the story checks out, then this is one valuable NSX, which is reflected in the high minimum starting bid of 47,500 pounds ($73,620). There have been no bids at time of writing, but with nine days left in the auction, we'll be keeping our eyes on this one.

NHTSA urges owners of recalled Takata airbag vehicles to take immediate action

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation are taking the unusual step of issuing a followup press release urging owners of certain recalled vehicles "to act immediately" to fix their cars and trucks. The problem in question concerns the repair campaigns for rupturing Takata airbag inflators issued in June and covers a long list of models from Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Infiniti, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile and Pontiac.
While NHSTA doesn't specifically say why the recall is vital in the new release, Toyota's own explanation in its newly announced renotification campaign earlier today sheds some new light on the topic. According to the Japanese automaker, in testing, Takata found a possible link between the rupturing airbag inflators and high humidity. NHTSA is advocating that all owners pursue repairs immediately if they haven't already done so already. This is especially crucial for those drivers especially in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii because of the humid conditions there.
We don't need to tell you how dangerous an inadvertent airbag deployment could be - even in a stationary vehicle - but adding to the Takata issue is fears that the deployment could lead to shrapnel being sprayed into the cabin.