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Honda, Nissan and Mazda recalling 3 million vehicles for airbag inflators

Three million more vehicles can be added to the worldwide tally to be repaired for the faulty airbag inflators supplied by Takata. Honda, Nissan, and Mazda have all issued recalls to replace the bad part, including about 1.2 million of them in North America. NHTSA has been investigating all three companies, plus Chrysler and Toyota, for potentially affected vehicles.
Honda is recalling roughly 1.02 million Civic, CR-V, Odyssey and Element models In North America, built between April 2000 and October 2002. Mazda needs to repair 14,794 units of the RX-8 and Mazda6, and Nissan has 228,000 vehicles in North America to be fixed.
Chrysler is also starting what it calls a "regional field action" to replace the inflators in the 2006 Dodge Charger, according to a company spokesperson. The company says that it has not yet found the problem in any of its vehicles, but it's being done "out of an abundance of caution." The final number of Chargers affected will be announced later this week.

Question of the Day: What (non-Skyline) JDM car to import?

I have been looking into the idea of bringing a four-wheel-drive kei van over from Japan, something like a Honda Street or perhaps even a Mitsubishi Minicab Bravo Route 66, and so I have been researching the various bureaucratic hoops I must jump through in order to bring such a car into my state (Colorado). When I finally tracked down the state official who knew the answers, his very first words were "OK, so what year Skyline do you want to register here?" Yes, Nissan's not-sold-over-here factory-hot-rod of the 1980s and 1990s is what gets shipped over most often, but there are other worthy JDM vehicles. Say, for example, a stunning 1990 Mitsuoka Le Seyde (above), which was far classier than the Excalibur and based on the sporty S13 Nissan Silvia, aka 240SX. Of course, the king of JDM cars is the mighty Toyota Century, and you can get nice legal-to-import examples for reasonable prices. No, you can't get the V12 Century legally – yet; the V12-powered cars don't hit the 25-year-old mark until 2022. So, what's your choice for a 1991 or earlier Japanese-market car to import, assuming that the Skyline is off the table? Related Video: Auto News Honda Nissan Toyota Car Buying nissan skyline questions

NHTSA expands new Takata probe to 4 more automakers

DETROIT — The U.S. government's highway safety agency has launched an investigation into four additional automakers that have a potentially deadly type of Takata air bag inflator in their vehicles but have yet to recall them. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted Thursday that it is investigating Audi, Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi in connection with a Takata recall involving 1.4 million inflators. This brings the total number of manufacturers potentially impacted to five, as BMW was connected to the issue when it was brought to light earlier in December. The inflators made by the now-bankrupt Takata have a distinct and separate problem that can cause them to blow apart a metal canister and spew shrapnel into people's faces and bodies. The problem killed a driver in Australia who was in an older 3-Series BMW, which has already recalled more than 116,000 vehicles. The problem is so dangerous that in some cases BMW has told drivers to park their vehicles until repairs can be made. The safety agency says in documents that Takata didn't provide details on the affected makes, models or model years of vehicles with the defective inflators. So it is telling the companies to recall them promptly. The agency says that based on when the faulty inflators were produced, it's likely that the vehicles to be recalled came from the 1995 through 2000 model years. In letters to all four automakers, NHTSA says they have five business days to notify the agency after finding out about a safety defect. “If your company has not yet gathered enough evidence to make a determination that the subject air bag inflators present an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety, reply with a detailed work plan including the benchmark dates required to make the determination,” the agency wrote in letters to all four automakers dated Wednesday. A Honda spokesman said Thursday it hasn't determined yet whether its vehicles are affected, but a decision should be made soon. Audi, Mitsubishi and Toyota said they are still investigating. NHTSA has told the companies to respond by Jan. 17. On Dec. 4, NHTSA posted documents from Takata and BMW detailing the problems. The documents said the Australian driver was killed, while another Australian driver and a driver in Cyprus were injured. Unlike previous recalls, the Takata non-azide inflators do not use volatile ammonium nitrate to fill the air bags in a crash.