Feds Upgrade Honda Ignition Probe

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September 16, 2003
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is upgrading an investigation of a possible safety defect in the ignition-transmission interlock of more than 1.4 million Honda vehicles.

NHTSA says it has received hundreds of complaints and some injury reports that Honda vehicles' keys could be taken out of the ignition even when the transmission was not shifted into park.

Complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com have chronicled a variety of problems with the ignition switch:

• Ruthy of Los Angeles said she had "almost been killed 5 times" when her ignition would suddenly cut off in traffic.
• When Matthew of Tallahassee took his ignition key out, various warning lights remained on.
• Therese said her CRV "car does not always register when it is in park" and it is imossible to remove the key.

Reuters reported that the agency has upgraded its preliminary investigation into 1.3 million Honda Accord sedans from model years 1998 to 2001, as well as about 62,000 Honda CR-V sport utility vehicles from 2002.

NHTSA said it has received 135 complaints from Accord owners and 34 complaints from CR-V owners about a failure of the ignition-park interlock, which is designed to keep vehicles from rolling away after being shut off.

The complaints include reports of 21 crashes and one injury from Accord buyers, and 7 crashes with 3 injuries from CR-V owners. NHTSA also said Honda had 112 warranty claims for the Accord and 29 CR-V warranty claims that were related to problems with the interlock.

NHTSA will now conduct an engineering analysis to determine exactly what caused the problems, and rule whether a recall is necessary.

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