Honda recalls 57,853 City sedans in India!

Japanese auto major Honda on Thursday said it is recalling 57,853 units of its mid-sized sedan City in India to replace a faulty engine part, as part of a global exercise.

The company, which runs operations in India through a joint venture with the Siel Group -- Honda Siel Cars India -- said the recall will cover only the third-generation City models that were manufactured between November 2008, and December 2009.

In a statement, HSCI said it would carry out preventive part replacement of the lost motion spring in the valve train of the City sedans being recalled.

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"HSCI is proactively replacing the part in these vehicles with a new improved part," it said.

The defective lost motion springs, which are compressed by rocker arms in normal engine use, may bend or break over time, resulting in abnormal engine noise and potentially causing engine stalling and problems in re-starting, the statement added.

"The replacement would be carried out free of cost and the company will communicate directly with the owners of the cars which are covered under this part replacement," it said.

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Dealerships have been updated about the part replacement and the new part is being dispatched to the dealerships in phases for smooth execution and to avoid any inconvenience to customers, HSCI said.

"HSCI is carrying out the part replacement as part of a global exercise by Honda Motor Company to ensure stringent quality standards for its products," the company said.

Honda Motor Co on Thursday announced that it is recalling 6,93,497 units of its Freed, Fit and City models globally to fix a faulty spring in the engine.

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"The global recall does not impact the Honda Jazz sold in India. The recall announced by Honda applies to certain units of Fit/Jazz fitted with 1.5L i-VTEC engine, which is sold in other countries and not sold in India," HSCI said.

The latest recall comes at a time when HSCI has been struggling to keep its sales counter ticking in India. In the April-January period this fiscal, the company sold a total of 51,044 units, compared to 49,600 units in the year-ago period, a growth of just 2.91 per cent, as against the industry average of about 30 per cent.

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In January, 2010, Honda recalled 8,532 units of its second-generation City sedan, manufactured in 2007, in India due to a defective power window switch, as part of a global recall initiative.

Last year, Honda recalled over 10 lakh (1 million) vehicles across different markets in the world to replace faulty parts, ranging from power window switch to safety airbags.