http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/business/honda-to-replace-airbags-throughout-us.html 2014-11-18 06:47:18 Honda to Replace Airbags Throughout U.S. The automaker told federal regulators it would replace potentially defective airbags in regions outside the high-humidity areas in which a formal recall was issued. === Honda Honda will also offer loaner cars “as appropriate,” the automaker said in a Nov. 6 response to regulators’ questions on the recalled airbags, which are made by the Takata Corporation. The Japanese automaker previously said that it was limiting certain recalls to cars sold or ever registered in areas of “high absolute humidity,” because moisture is thought to play a role in the defect. Defective airbags can explode violently when they deploy in an accident, sending shrapnel into the car’s cabin toward the driver and passengers. Five deaths and dozens of injuries have been linked to the defect in airbags manufactured at Takata’s plants in the United States and Mexico, which have affected cars from 11 automakers. Honda and Takata, together with other automakers and safety regulators, have been called to testify at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Thursday. Scheduled to attend are executives from Honda and Chrysler, as well as David J. Friedman, the deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Takata has also been requested to send a representative to that hearing, but has not committed to doing so, according to a person familiar with the preparations. Honda is offering to fix cars nationwide even as it warns that it faces a shortage of the parts necessary to replace all of the affected airbags. Honda has recalled over 3.5 million cars in high-humidity regions alone. It was not immediately clear how many more cars would now be eligible for recalls. “It is our practice to repair these vehicles outside of these regions at the request of concerned customers,” Honda said in a response posted on the safety regulator’s website. “Additionally, we have a customer service procedure that addresses individual customer needs and concerns and encompasses, as appropriate, the replacement of airbag inflaters and the provision of or reimbursement for temporary alternative transportation,” Honda said. Chris Martin, a spokesman for Honda, said that the offer did not mean Honda was formally expanding the recalls nationwide. Honda had limited the bulk of its recalls this year to Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. Some other automakers have limited recalls over Takata’s exploding airbags to Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In a statement, Senator Edward J. Markey, a member of the Commerce Committee who previously called for nationwide recalls, berated safety regulators for not leading the charge to expand them. “Our highway safety agency, not Honda, should have been the first to call for this nationwide replacement of deadly airbags,” said Mr. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts. He called on regulators “to immediately announce mandatory nationwide recalls to protect American drivers.” Officials at the safety agency were not immediately available to respond.