Wisconsin, 47 others reach $85 million settlement with Honda over faulty airbags

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Wisconsin and 47 other U.S. states and territories have reached an $85 million settlement with Honda over faulty airbag systems in the company’s cars.

Attorney General Josh Kaul and attorneys general from throughout the U.S. were investigating whether American Honda Motor Co. and Honda of America Mfg. concealed safety concerns related to defects in the frontal airbag systems in certain Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S.

Takata Corp. manufactured the airbags, which were first installed in Honda vehicles in 2001. The airbags had a high risk of bursting, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the car. The faulty airbags caused at least 14 deaths and more than 200 injuries in the U.S., according to Kaul’s office.

The states alleged Honda’s engineers knew about the troubles, but the company didn’t warn consumers or safety officials, even as it began partial recalls of affected vehicles in 2008 and 2009. Honda has recalled about 12.9 million vehicles since then.

The attorneys general said Honda’s failure to act and misrepresentations about the safety of its vehicles violated state consumer-protection laws.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Honda agreed to take steps to ensure future airbag designs have fail-safe features to protect passengers if they burst, make changes to its procurement process for new frontal airbags, carry out prevention procedures, abide by prohibitions on misleading advertisements, make improvements to quality control and other processes, and implement mandatory whistleblower protections.

Honda must also pay the participating attorneys general $85,151,210.15. Wisconsin will receive $1,598,360.87 of that amount.

The multi-state group is made up of Wisconsin, South Carolina, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Consumers who may own affected Honda and Acura vehicles can find more information on Honda’s airbag recall website.

Settlement amount: $85,151,210.15

Remedial actions:

• Take steps to ensure that future airbag designs include “fail-safe” features to protect passengers in the event the inflator ruptures.
• Adopt changes to its procurement process for new frontal airbags, to ensure that its suppliers have the appropriate industry certifications and satisfy key industry performance standards, as well as improve record-keeping and parts tracking.
• Implement recurrence prevention procedures designed to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again, such as requiring that Honda approve all new frontal airbag designs before the company will consider them for use in new Honda vehicles.
• Abide by prohibitions on misleading advertisements and point of sale representations regarding the safety of Honda’s vehicles, including the airbags.
• Make improvements in critical areas such as risk management, quality control, supplier oversight, training and certifications, and implementing mandatory whistleblower protections.

Date of resolution: Aug. 12, 2020

Plaintiff’s lawyer: Lewis W. Beilin, assistant attorney general, Wisconsin Department of Justice

Defendant’s lawyer: Ashley L. Taylor Jr., Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, Richmond, Va.; Clayton S. Friedman, Crowell & Morning, Irvine, Calif.; Catherine M. McEvilly, American Honda Motor Co., Torrance, Calif. Follow @WLJReporter