* Expands earlier recalls of 510,000 vehicles
* Move designed to replace defective airbags made by Takata
* Recall covers some 2001 and 2002 Accords, Civics
* Honda shares down 0.2 pct vs Nikkei's 1 pct gain
* Analyst cautions against overreacting to recalls
(Changes dateline; updates with global tally, details, share
moves)
By Chang-Ran Kim and Soyoung Kim
TOKYO/DETROIT, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said it
would recall another 438,000 cars globally to replace
an airbag deflator that could rupture and send shards towards the
driver in an accident.
The move follows a separate recall of 646,000 cars less than
two weeks ago for a faulty window switch that engulfed a Jazz
subcompact in flames in South Africa, killing a child.
Japan's No.2 automaker had previously filed recalls for the
airbag problem on two separate occasions, in November 2008 and
June 2009, covering a total 510,000 vehicles.
Ongoing investigation had determined the defect was caused by
insufficient stamping pressure during the production of the
inflator propellant and not by excessive moisture intake by the
propellant as previously believed, Honda said.
The airbags are made by the U.S. unit of Japan's Takata Corp,
a Honda spokesman said. A Takata spokesman said the company was
not aware of any defect in airbags it supplies to other
automakers.
The expanded recall is concentrated in the United States,
where nearly 379,000 cars are subject to the recall. All cars to
be recalled globally are made at Honda's U.S. and Canadian
plants. The latest recall applies to 2001 and 2002 model-year
Accord, Civic, Odyssey, CR-V, Pilot and 2002 Acura TL and CL
vehicles in the United States.
The Honda spokesman said the recall would cost the company
about 24 million yen ($267,000) in Japan, or about $67 a car. He
declined to disclose a global estimate, but based on the per-unit
cost in Japan, the global tally would come to about $30 million.
The airbag defect has been linked to one fatality and 11
injuries in the United States. There have been no reports of
accidents elsewhere, Honda said.
The move comes at a time when Honda's bigger rival Toyota
Motor Corp has come under intense scrutiny from U.S. safety
regulators. Toyota has launched the biggest recall in its history
and faces criticism that it was slow to respond to safety issues.
Honda said it had brought the safety issue to the attention
of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and
had notified regulators of the decision to include additional
vehicles in its recall.
The NHTSA contacted Honda in August 2009 as part of a review
into whether the automaker had acted in a timely way in
announcing its broadened recall.
John Mendel, Honda's U.S. chief, told reporters on a
conference call that the NHTSA review had not been concluded.
Shares of Honda were down 0.2 percent on Wednesday afternoon
in Tokyo, underperforming gains in most other auto stocks and the
broader market. The Nikkei share average rose 1 percent.
Takata shares fell 1.6 percent.
But analysts noted that automakers regularly make recalls,
and said media coverage of recent cases had been somewhat
overblown.
"While the way automakers handle recalls is important, I
think people should be careful not to overreact to every single
recall," said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Kazaka Securities
in Tokyo.
"Rather, my concern for the auto industry is their earnings
for the next financial year, given the absence of the boost they
enjoyed from government incentives this year," he said.
Honda last week lifted its annual guidance far beyond market
expectations.
($1=89.91 Yen)
(Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chris
Gallagher)
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