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Honda charged another $363 million over Takata airbags

The Takata airbag recall is growing increasingly expensive for Honda. In the latest hit to the automaker's bottom line, the company is revising the expected costs of its global safety campaigns by an additional 44.8 billion yen ($363 million) after the massive expansion in May. Months ago, Honda announced that it had set aside 50 billion yen ($425 million at the time) to meet the predicted expenses. According to Automotive News, due to the rather arcane laws of accounting, these new costs will actually be applied to the fiscal year that ended on March 31, rather than the current one. Honda's revised earnings will be announced in late June. The company previously reported an operating profit of 651.7 billion yen ($5.3 billion), which was down 13 percent from the previous year. There has been no change to planned dividends for investors. In the US, Honda and Acura have a total of about 6.28 million vehicles in need of a replacement airbag inflator, and the automaker says about two million of those are already repaired. In addition to the Takata campaign, the company has faced other financial setbacks during this calendar year. For example, in early January, it received a $70 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to report 1,729 cases of injuries or deaths over 11 years. As part of a strategy to improve quality globally, Honda cut back its global sales forecasts for the coming year, and it also decided not to make any volume predictions through 2017. To: Shareholders of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. From: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 1-1, Minami-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku, 107-8556 Tokyo Takanobu Ito President and Representative Director Notice of Events after the Reporting Period Regarding Product Warranty Expenses Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (the "Company") and its consolidated subsidiaries have been conducting market-based measures in relation to airbag inflators, such as product recalls and a Safety Improvement Campaign. Due to factors arising since May 2015 such as an expansion of the scope of these market-based measures based on an agreement between our supplier and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a change has arisen in the estimate relating to product warranty expenses. The amount of product warranty expenses now expected to be incurred is 44,800 million yen.

Honda Civic poised to get new Earth Dreams engines

When Honda executed its emergency refresh of the Civic for 2013, it didn't do any massive powertrain reworking. But that doesn't mean new things aren't already in the works for Honda's compact. According to Automotive News, Honda has confirmed that it will offer the Civic with a new Earth Dreams powerplant sometime in the future, though details on timing and exactly what sort of engine are unclear as of this writing.
The confirmation comes from Honda's executive vice president and regional director for North America, Tetsuo Iwamura, who says that the Earth Dreams engine will come when the Civic is re-engineered or redesigned, not during a refresh. There is also no mention of whether these changes will apply to just the standard Civic, or if the Si and Hybrid models will receive some Dreamy new tech, as well.
The entire Earth Dreams group of technologies encompasses more than just naturally aspirated engines with direct injection. A turbo-diesel engine is also part of this suite, as are new continuously variable transmissions and new gasoline-electric hybrid powerplants. Honda launched its 2.4-liter and 3.5-liter Earth Dreams engines in the redesigned 2013 Accord.

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.