ANNIE ALLEN (UK Bureau Chief)
More than 800,000 Honda Odyssey vehicles have been caught up in an airbag scare in the United States after allegations that their airbags could suddenly deploy while the vehicles were moving.
But in a dramatic twist, the US auto safety regulator has closed its review, saying there was not enough evidence of a widespread defect to justify a formal investigation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Tuesday that it had completed its review of a defect petition involving 806,963 Honda Odyssey minivans built between 2011 and 2017.
The petition alleged that the vehicles’ airbags could deploy unexpectedly without a sufficiently severe crash or triggering event.
Even more troubling, the petition claimed that the airbag system could record inaccurate diagnostic information, potentially making it difficult to determine what triggered an unexpected deployment.
The allegations prompted scrutiny of consumer complaints and other reports involving supposed inadvertent airbag deployments.
However, after examining the available information, NHTSA said it could not identify a clear pattern or common factor linking the incidents.
That finding proved crucial.
According to the regulator, the evidence available did not establish a defect trend that would warrant opening a formal safety investigation.
And there was another significant finding: NHTSA said it was not aware of any crashes or severe injuries resulting from the alleged deployments.
The regulator’s decision therefore brings the petition to a close for now, although the issue could attract renewed attention if additional evidence or complaints emerge.
For owners of the affected Odyssey models, the episode is a reminder that an airbag system is designed to deploy only under specific conditions—and an unexpected deployment can itself present a serious safety concern.
For now, however, the US regulator has found insufficient evidence of a widespread defect behind the allegations.
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