Honda Announces Recall for the Accord, Civic and Element Vehicles

Honda has announced that it will recall approximately 197,000 Accord and 117,000 Civic vehicles from the 2003 model year and roughly 69,000 Element vehicles from the 2003 and 2004 model years in the U.S.

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The vehicles are being recalled in order to prevent a malfunction of the ignition interlock feature.

The problem was discovered when Honda received several complaints all regarding the same failure in these vehicles. Honda is aware of a small number of related incidents that include one that resulted in a minor injury. They are now scrambling to fix this problem.

Here is a detailed description of the problem from Honda:

"The ignition interlock mechanism can be damaged or worn during use. If this happens, it may become possible to remove the ignition key when the shift lever is not in Park. If the transmission is not in Park and the parking brake is not set, the vehicle could roll away, and a crash could occur."

Honda is announcing this recall to encourage all owners of affected vehicles to take their vehicle authorized dealers as soon as they receive notifications from Honda that their specific vehicle is affected by this problem. Notification to customers will start in late September, 2010.

This is not a serious problem in that no one has been severely injured or had their car destroyed. Those that do own the above named vehicles, however, should be aware of this problem and should get it fixed as soon as they can.

Right now, Honda is very concerned about their customer satisfaction. They are doing what they can to notify vehicle owners of the problem. They are contacting customers by mail, after September 20, 2010, but also, owners of these vehicles can determine if their vehicle requires repair by going online and visiting Honda at www.recalls.honda.com or calling Honda (800) 999-1009.