Technical details behind the Honda airbag recall

A number of manufacturers have recently issued urgent recalls for their vehicle's airbags. Here are the technical details for the background to those recalls.   

Basically, Honda is one of the manufacturers who source their airbags from Takata. One of our insiders sums it up very precisely in our TOV/TOVA forums :

4G CR-V MMC coming soon for the U.S.

Spy shots of the MMC CR-V for the U.S. is showing up on the net now. We (TOV/TOVA) were offered the shots but Jeff decided not to take them because he felt the changes were relatively mild. 

Good call as the shots were taken up by another site www.autos.ca who have already published them. Checking the spy shots, we can see new wheels and reworked plastics on the front and rear - new bumpers, new font grill, and a possibility of DRLs (Daylight driving lights). The headlights are projector type possibly with HID (btw, the current ASEAN CR-V 2.4s already have HIDs). 

Other TOVers have also noticed turn signal lights on the door mirrors  which suggests Lanewatch camera on the Right side mirror. Plus a tiny square button on the driver's side door handle - which suggests push button start/keyless entry for the U.S. in this MMC (which is surprising because ASEAN 2.4 CR-Vs are already getting keyless entry).

The feature photo here is taken from the autos.ca website but you should visit their website to see their full set of photos. Their url is http://www.autos.ca/general-news/spied-facelifted-honda-cr-v-caught-testing-new-sheetmetal/

New CTR teaser at Honda UK website !

As a sure sign that the 2015 debut date for the super new 10G Civic Type-R is on schedule is the new CTR teaser page on Honda U.K.'s website. The link is at http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/campaigns/2014/civic-type-r/ and the anchor photo is a screen capture off that page. Of course no details are given but the photos at least are awesome. Check it out (warning, network intensive).

Honda wins at GT300 class in Super-GT !

Honda wins at round-3 of Super-GT Autopolis in the GT300 class with the CR-Z GT. Under good weather conditions and dry track, No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT using the 3.5l J35A engine with just 0.018second lead (!) to the 2nd placed No. SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT using the EJ20 engine. No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT started the race in P2.

Meanwhile in the GT500 class, Honda delivered a much better result than in the last race. No. 100 Raybrig NSX Concept GT started from P6 and finished in 6th which is a great result, given the disaster of the last race. Two other NSX'es finished relatively well too with the No. 18 Weider NSX finishing in 7th and the No. 10 Epson finishing in 10th. The other two 2 NSX'es retired. Overall winner is the Nissan R35 which swept the podium with a 1-2-3 finish.

It was a hot day with 28deg C weather and a 43deg C road surface temperature.

Another piece of good news is that it is reported they will use new engines in the next race at the SUGO circuit.

A little more about the 2G S2000

One of our regular contributors who has connections to Honda has offered the following additional info/corrections on what Honda is supposedly planning for the rumoured new 2G S2000. He gave the following points:

- It will be a (USD)$40-45k non-hybrid

- To be equipped with the (new) CTR power-train and a 6-sp manual gearbox. Power is given as 300-350hp, up from the 280ps listed in BEST CAR. The car will be RWD.

- The new S2000 will now be 2+2 (a transverse engine configuration and using a I4 leaves room for a rear jumper seat)

- There is talk of a possible Hybrid model which will have 400hp (!) with a DCT gearbox and with AWD instead of RWD. The price of this is supposedly around the USD $60k range.

According to our contributor, Honda CEO Ito-san thinks sports cars should be MR and not FR.

Rumours of new 2G S2000

New 2G Honda S2000 rumours from Japan

Rumours of Honda resurrecting the legendary S2000 with a 2nd Gen S2000 is becoming very hot nowadays. From Japan, BEST CAR magazine has publishing lots of articles on this rumoured new model. TOV/TOVA contributor DanielG translated the following details from the latest BEST CAR issue :

- a midsize MR (2+2 possible) choice between the Beat (S660) and the NSX (instead of the previously rumored FR setup with a smaller engine),
- powered by the EuroCTR 2.0L Turbo, SH-AWD being a possibility not yet decided.
- priced between 4M and 4.5M JPY
- arriving in second half 2016. 

Dimensions are forecasted to be 4250mm X 1800mm X 1200 mm (LWH) with a wheelbase of 2700mm. The engine is taken from the Euro CTR as indicated above, with an estimated specs of 280ps at 6600rpm and 40.7kgm at 2500rpm. 

BEST CAR has been quite OK with predicting new models but not with their technical details so take this with a pinch of salt and hope for the best.