Honda ad campaign urges owners to get Takata airbags fixed fast
14 Mar 2015
Honda is kicking off a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to urge owners of Honda and Acura models with possibly defective Takata airbags to get them fixed, fast.
The faulty airbags had taken a toll of five lives amomg Honda owners.
Honda and nine other automakers have recalled millions of vehicle with the airbags, which could tear loose from their mountings and blast the passenger compartment with shrapnel.
According to Honda, its ad campaign urged "Honda and Acura owners to immediately check for open recalls and safety improvement campaigns, and to take affected vehicles to an authorized dealer for free repair as soon as possible."
John Mendel, executive vice president of the automobile division of American Honda Motor said the campaign was aimed at lives and preventing injuries.
Areas where the danger was thought highest would, especially humid areas, would get higher concentration of ads.
Refusing to declare the bags defective, Takata said, its tests could not routinely duplicate the problem. It said earlier that propellant used to inflate the bags was mishandled during manufacture, and outside experts had labeled the propellant non-standard and unusually volatile.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has demanded that Takata extend greater cooperation and threatened to sue the company to force it to comply.
Honda Motor Co's US arm said it launched an advertising campaign urging owners of Honda and Acura vehicles to immediately check for open recalls and take the affected automobiles to authorised dealers for free repairs.
The company has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to cover mass recalls to replace air-bag inflators made by Takata Corp that had been linked to six deaths, all in Honda cars.
According to Mendel the ads were a strong call to action and were designed to break through the clutter, grab the attention of customers driving affected vehicles, and urge that they get the required repairs done as soon as possible.
Honda said, the consumer information campaign included a multi-million dollar advertising push that would begin on 16 March.
