Wheels: Air Bag Problems May Affect 320,000 Honda Minivans

Honda Motor Co. The 2003 Honda Odyssey; one of the model years possibly affected by industrywide air bag problems.

Citing complaints about air bags deploying when there has not been an impact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether 320,000 2003-4 Honda Odyssey minivans should be recalled.

In a separate report, also posted on the N.H.T.S.A. Web site early Monday, the agency said it would upgrade its investigation into whether General Motors should have recalled an additional 550,000 vehicles in 2009. That’s when G.M. recalled 8,000 Pontiac G6 models from the 2005 and 2006 model years for a problem with the brake lights.

In the Honda investigation, the agency said it has received six complaints from owners, including three who said they were injured. One of those six owners said he was stopped at a light when the bags deployed, though the minivan had not been struck in a collision.

“The driver’s side air bag deployed first with a loud pop. Two or three seconds later the passenger-side air bag deployed, where my wife was sitting. Fortunately both us were sitting back in our seats and I had my hands off the steering wheel,” he wrote, adding that the dealership he went to for repairs gave him an estimate of $4,100.

The report noted that Honda may use the same module that resulted in the recall last year of about 745,000 2002-3 Jeep Liberty and 2002-4 Jeep Grand Cherokee models. In that recall, TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., the company that supplied the air bags Chrysler used in its Jeep vehicles, told the safety agency that the same module was used in some Odyssey models.

The G.M. investigation involves brake lights that illuminate when the brake pedal is not depressed but do not light up when the driver does push the brake pedal. N.H.T.S.A. said in February that it would open a recall query to learn whether recalling 8,000 2005-6 G6 models in 2009 was adequate.

In the safety agency’s latest report, investigators said they found enough reason for concern to upgrade the recall-query investigation to an engineering analysis. The newly discovered information includes 314 complaints from owners, with a report of one crash without injuries. G.M. told the agency it has fielded about 1,100 complaints.

The investigation will also look into reports that the cars’ cruise control did not work properly and that shifting automatic transmission-equipped models out of park was difficult.