Honda recalls all new Fit Hybrid and Vezel Hybrid

In the third recall of vehicles manufactured by Honda Motors within a span of six months, on 10^th of February the firm announced problem in software program controlling automatic transmission within its Fit Hybrid and Vezel Hybrid cars sold in Japan. Honda made a notification to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that it would be recalling all 81,353 units of its Fit Hybrid and Vezel Hybrid cars which were sold between July 2013 and February 2014. According to official statement issued by Honda’s senior spokesperson, the software installed in both these cars which controls seven speed dual clutch transmission technology is faulty and could cause delay in making changes to car’s movement and also reduce ability to move forward.

Before this latest fiasco, Honda had to conduct a recalls in 2013 during October and December due to a similar software problem in another of its models. This recall may have long term repercussions on the Japanese brand therefore it issued a public apology to its customers for the trouble caused in recalling their vehicles and their inability to detect the problem during testing. Honda also sent out individual apology mails to all customers whose cars were recalled due to problems with this new technology. It expressed regret that the software which appeared perfect during development and testing should cause trouble to Honda’s buyers. Since this technology was touted as a measure to make driving a easy prospect and remove tension of manually changing gears while increasing fuel efficiency, it was quickly adopted in all Honda’s hybrid cars after proper quality verification exercise.

When it was first noticed in October the firm’s engineers though that it is a rare problem and rectified it when people came to them with problems. However Honda continued using this technology on next generation of hybrid cars with improved capabilities wherein all its divisions worked in earnest to ensure that clutch does not get locked up. But with the problem recurring again it appears as if the problem was not solved completely and engineers made stop-gap arrangements to meet demand without thinking about passenger security. As a step towards rectification of this problem Honda will first look into the product’s gear change mechanism to understand reason behind sudden change in software which makes the gear stop working.

It can change internal parts of the Direct Clutch Transmission system and then make necessary changes in software program to bring both in synchronization. The firm is also making a new control program which is currently under development which will be released on 27^th February 2014. This new software program will be attached to all its recalled vehicles and returned to their original owners at no extra cost with a few modifications also made to DCT system. All deliveries of these affected models have been suspended by Honda until installation of new software program is completed on all vehicles in the factory. A similar exercise is also being carried out for these models which were already sent to dealers’ showrooms. Honda has already stated that even these models will not be sold to customers until the software problem is rectified. The public apology also requested customer understanding and cooperation in this regard.