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Honda S2000, Acura RSX recalled over brake boosters

Honda has announced a recall that affects two of our favorite, dearly departed cars from the brand's portfolio: the S2000 roadster and Acura RSX coupe. A total of 5,239 S2000 models from the 2006 and 2007 model years are affected by this problem, as are 13,113 2006 Acura RSX models.
"A production error may have allowed brake booster components to be produced outside of the original specifications, potentially causing decreased brake assistance over time, which could increase the risk of a crash," American Honda said in a press release. Thus, dealerships will inspect and, if necessary, replace the brake booster setups in these vehicles, free of charge.
No crashes or injuries have been reported in relation to this brake problem. Honda says the problem was discovered during warranty claim analysis.

Honda: We won't be able to sell ICE cars in China by 2025

China's push to clean up the country's woeful air pollution levels could mean the end of the traditional internal combustion engine there. In an interview with WardsAuto, Keiji Ohtsu, Honda's chief technology strategy officer at the company's automobile R&D center, predicts a lineup only of models with electric assistance in the country within a decade. He also discusses the Japanese automaker's green car goals worldwide. Ohtsu foresees China adopting some of the strictest fuel economy standards in the world in the coming years. "In 2025, we don't expect to be able to sell conventional internal-combustion engines [there], meaning we will be selling mostly hybrids including plug-in types," he said to WardsAuto. China's push to clean up its air comes as major cities continue to struggle with massive levels of pollution. For example, Beijing recently banned half of the cars from the road due to dire levels of smog. To fight back, the government has pushed automakers to launch more plug-ins, and the strategy has shown some success. China's BYD has already become the world's largest producer of plug-in vehicles in 2015. Even outside of China, Honda intends to become a far greener automaker in the coming years. In the near term, the company expects 20 percent of its global volume could be hybrids by 2020. According to Ohtsu, as much as 80 percent of Japanese deliveries could have some form or electrification by that time, but the US would be closer to 20 percent. However, the company sees hybrids more as a stepping stone than as the future of motoring, and the mass adoption of hydrogen is the real goal. "We think that fuel-cell vehicles will come into the mainstream in 2030, along with battery-powered electric cars. We also feel that going forward hydrogen will be the best fuel alternative," Ohtsu said to WardsAuto. Honda's experimental FCEV (pictured above) already hints at the brand's future direction.

Honda working on 'power exporter' to go with fuel-cell vehicle

The bad news, as we've previously reported, is that Honda's first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle won't debut until 2016, a bit later than expected. The good news is that the automaker may produce a device that will let that FCV's motor power up other devices as well. So it's a tradeoff of sorts. The company is producing what it calls the Power Exporter Concept. Put simply, it's a device that can connects to the fuel-cell vehicle and produce AC power (the picture makes it look fairly small, but dimensions weren't disclosed). The device has a maximum output of 9 kilowatts. Honda isn't saying much else about the device, which was announced along with further details of the company's upcoming fuel-cell concept vehicle. Still, it's heady yet not terribly surprising stuff from a company that's long been a big player on the portable power generator industry. Honda recently said its first production fuel-cell vehicle would see the light of day in early 2016 instead of 2015. The futuristic-looking vehicle will have a power output of about 130 horsepower and will be able to have its hydrogen tank filled up in less than five minutes. Take a look at Honda's press release below. Honda Unveils All-New FCV CONCEPT Fuel-Cell Vehicle - Striving to Realize a CO2-free Society by Combining FCV with an external power feeding device and Smart Hydrogen Station - TOKYO, Japan, November 17, 2014 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today unveiled, for the first time in the world, the Honda FCV CONCEPT, a concept car for an all-new fuel-cell vehicle (FCV), and the Honda Power Exporter CONCEPT, a concept model for an external power feeding device that enables AC power output from the FCV with maximum output of 9 kW*1. The all-new FCV that will be based on this concept model is scheduled to go on sale in Japan by the end of March, 2016 and subsequently in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to the FCV and external power feeding device, Honda will further promote the application of the Smart Hydrogen Station (SHS), a packaged hydrogen station unit that adopts Honda's original high-differential-pressure electrolyzer. In this way, Honda will work toward the forthcoming hydrogen society under three key concepts – "generate," "use" and "get connected" – and strive for the early realization of a CO2-free society.