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A look inside Honda’s “Safety For Everyone” research and development operation

RAYMOND, Ohio—As part of its long-running “Safety for Everyone” campaign, Honda has established the audacious goal of what it calls a “zero-collision society.” But rather than making big claims about developing a fully-autonomous vehicle, which Honda hasnÂ’t done, the company is trying to chip away at the more than 37,000 vehicle-related fatalities that occurred in the U.S. in 2017 with a multi-pronged approach. Here in central Ohio, engineers are working with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to boost active safety systems like its HondaSensing suite of safety technology with old fashioned passive systems like structural steel frames or new airbag designs that protect passengers in a crash. Honda provided members of the press with a rare tour inside its Honda R&D Americas headquarters this week. Honda officials say that increasingly, safety — and specifically, third-party ratings from the likes of the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — figure into the top three factors consumers weigh when purchasing a vehicle. Honda and Acura have 10, 2019 models that have earned IIHSÂ’s Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ ratings, and all 15, 2019 model-year Honda and Acura vehicles that have undergone NHTSA crash testing have earned a 5-star overall rating. And Honda prides itself on its growing list of safety firsts, including the first upward-deploying front passenger airbag, in 1990 in the Acura Legend; first omni-directional crash-test facility, in 2000; and the first autonomous braking system, in the 2006 Acura RL. It hopes its new three-chamber airbag goes industry-wide and joins that list. “ItÂ’s part of our companyÂ’s culture,” said Art St. Cyr, business head unit and vice president of auto operations for American Honda Motor Co. “We have a philosophy at Honda that we want to be a company that society wants to exist. That means we have to protect our customers. ThatÂ’s part of the whole mantra of doing this.” Opened in 1984, the 1.6 million square-foot Honda R&D Americas facility, located in the countryside about 45 miles northwest of Columbus, employs around 1,600 people and is HondaÂ’s largest research-and-development facility outside of Japan. Its Advanced Safety Research facility opened in 2003.

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

Honda adds 4.5 million vehicles to Takata recall, none in North America

The already massive Takata airbag inflator recall is getting 4.5-million units larger across the world. Honda is issuing an expansion to its safety campaign in many foreign markets. Of those newly affected cars, about 1.63 million of them are in Japan. None of these models are in North America. According to Reuters, Honda decided on this recall expansion after analyzing 1,000 inflators from vehicles not previously covered by its campaigns. The company found that the density of the gas-producing chemicals varied in them, which could cause a safety problem in the future. The models affected include foreign versions of the Fit and CR-V with production dates between 2007 and 2011, the Associated Press reports. Research suggests that Takata's inflators can be affected by exposure to moisture. This can cause the propellant to ignite too quickly and the component to shoot metal shrapnel when the airbag deploys. The issue has been linked to eight deaths worldwide, and there was a recent report of the issue causing a vehicle fire in a Nissan in Japan. The global inflator recall has had serious affects on Honda's books, as well. The Japanese automaker recently had to revise earnings from last year to account for an extra $363 million in costs from the campaigns and has been dealing with lawsuits over the issue. To improve quality, the company decided not to set sales goals through at least 2017. Honda last expanded the recall in Japan in late May to cover another 340,000 vehicles. It has also been searching for Takata's inflators in junkyards in the US. Related Video: