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Honda to recall 1.1 million U.S. vehicles to re-replace Takata airbags

Honda said on Tuesday it would recall about 1.1 million Honda and Acura vehicles in the United States to re-replace defective Takata airbags on the driver's side. The company said it was aware of one injury linked to the defect that may have caused the airbag to rupture when it was deployed in a crash. The vehicles involved in the recall were previously repaired using specific Takata desiccated replacement inflators (PSDI-5D) or entire replacement airbag modules containing these inflators. "Those replacement inflators," Honda said in a statement, "are now deemed defective." Free repairs of the recalled cars would begin immediately in the United States with replacement parts made by alternate suppliers, Honda said. Honda became aware of the issue after a Honda Odyssey crash, where the front airbag deployed and injured the driver's arm. An investigation later showed that manufacturing issues at Takata's Mexico facility introduced excessive moisture into the inflator during assembly, leading to the problem. The total number of recalled inflators is now about 21 million in about 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles that have been subject to recall for replacing Takata front airbag inflators in the United States, the company said. Automakers in the United States repaired more than 7.2 million defective Takata air bag inflators in 2018, as companies have ramped up efforts to track down parts in need of replacement. Recalls Acura Honda

Acura files for Integra Type S trademark

It's only been a couple of weeks since Acura dropped the news bomb that it was bringing back the Integra. In that time, though, the company has quickly applied to trademark the name "Integra Type S" with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The filing, discovered by CarBuzz, was submitted on Aug. 20, a little less than a week after the Integra revival was announced. Curiously, it's under the category of "Apparel and headwear, namely, caps, hats, T-shirts, shirts, sweatshirts, knit shirts, polo shirts, jackets and vests," rather than automobiles.   It seems unlikely, though, that Acura would trademark Integra Type S for shirts and hats if it didn't plan on building a car to go along with it. So the Integra may come in standard and hotted up versions. The last time Acura offered an Type S in North America, it wasn't officially called that. During Acura's switch to an alphanumeric naming convention, the Integra name was dropped in favor of RSX, built from 2002-06. There, the Type S moniker, while not as hard-core as the previous-generation Integra Type R, still meant a considerable bump in performance. Regular RSX models had 160 horsepower, but the RSX Type S cranked out 200 to 210, depending on the year. The Type S was also available exclusively with a manual transmission, and had improved suspension and brakes. While a similar improvement in hardware would be more than welcome on an Integra Type S, we don't want to get too excited over what could just be a logo on a T-shirt. The wouldn't be the first time in recent memory a carmaker trademarked a familiar name for swag. Earlier this year Nissan trademarked Fairlady Z — the original name for the Nissan Z-car — for usage on anything from cuff links to wall clocks. Meanwhile, Ford stepped in and trademarked the name Skyline for the category of cars and trucks. So Acura should probably just go ahead and get the trademark for cars, even if it doesn't plan on offering it at all.  

Acura reveals performance EV concept called Performance EV Concept

After teasing a new EV concept for Monterey, Acura made good on its promise Thursday with the unveiling of its rather plainly named Performance EV Concept. Good news: Acura's first in-house EV will be a performance car. Bad news: It's not the one we all hoped it would be. Instead, we're getting another model in the grand tradition of the ZDX — pronounced front end and all. It seems that look is here to stay, so get used to it, because Acura says it plans to build a production model based on this concept starting in late 2025.  That's noteworthy not just because this is Acura's first in-house EV, but because it'll be the first production car to ride on any variant of Honda's new BEV architecture. The mainstream brand is planning to put something based on its 0 Series "Saloon" concept into production in 2026. That's quite the coup (no "e") for Acura, which spent most of the past two years talking about the Ultium-based ZDX project, which by all accounts will be the first and last Acura-badged product of Honda's tie-up with General Motors and its Ultium EV platform.  As you can probably surmise, Acura remains tight-lipped about specifics. Honda (and by extension, Acura) "concept" vehicles have a funny habit of being put into production almost exactly as they sit, so what you see here is likely pretty close to the mystery CUV's final physical form, but battery and motor specs remain nebulous for the time being. We expect a multi-motor setup engineered to mimic the behavior of the SH-AWD system Acura offers in its ICE vehicles. The concept's massive 23-inch wheels encircle a set of four-piston calipers and crossed-drilled rotors — the two most significant hints that we're looking at something meant to move quickly.  If you're in Northern California for Car Week, you can check out Acura's concept at The Quail. The company's presentation is scheduled for 10:36 a.m. local time (What is this, a train schedule?) on Friday.