In the meantime, Honda announces recall for its Fit

Danny Tse

From the New York Times....

TOKYO — Honda Motor said Friday that it was recalling 646,000 of its Fit/Jazz and City automobiles globally because of a faulty window switch after a child died when fire broke out in a car last year.

The recall includes 140,000 vehicles in the United States and covers the models sold in North America, South America, Europe, South Africa and Asia, but not Japan, a spokeswoman said.

The Fit is Honda’s best-selling model in Japan.

The company said the recall was to fix a defective master switch, which could allow water to enter the power window switch and in some cases cause a fire.

There were three reported cases of fires cause by the defect, two in the United States and one in South Africa, the spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Honda in Britain said the company had recalled all 2002-8 model year Jazz units in South Africa and would recall 172,000 in Britain.

Honda said on its South African Web site, www.honda.co.za, that it would “inspect and modify driver door power-window switches that may, in some cases, short circuit as a result of water intrusion.”

A toddler, Vanilla Nurse, was killed on her second birthday in Cape Town in September last year when the car she was sleeping in caught fire.

“There has been a recall to do with a window switch, and 172,000 cars will be affected by the recall in the U.K.,” a spokesman for Honda U.K. said Friday.

“The recall will start towards the end of February,” the spokesman added. “Now we will start talking to customers and dealers as to how we set up that recall.”

Honda U.K. said that when water entered the drivers’ windows of the Jazz model and reached a master power switch, it could cause the switch to overheat and “potentially cause fire.”

“At the recall, a waterproof skirt will be fitted to the window to avoid any damage,” the spokesman added.

devani

hmm, I would never leave my windows down when it's raining but it's a safety measure

Jstas

devani wrote: »

hmm, I would never leave my windows down when it's raining but it's a safety measure

The windows weren't down. The windows allow a certain amount of water seepage through the weather guard and other joints in the door. The water gets in, contacts the main power switch inside the door and shorts it out. When it shorts out, it can heat up enough to ignite insulation. Once that happens, bad juju.

Not necessarily a design flaw in the door because all doors have holes in them for moisture to drain out. The switch could probably have been protected better though.

nooshinjohn

I bet the owners are having FIT's over this...

Jstas

Nah, they're probably Jazzed about it.