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Honda Air Bag Recalls Not Hurting Sales

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When Skeletor stands by the quality of your product, not even Honda air bag recalls can dissuade customers

When Skeletor stands by the quality of your product, not even Honda air bag recalls can dissuade customers

The recent Honda air bag recalls certainly seem like bad press for the Japanese automaker, but so far, they haven’t had a particularly negative impact on sales. The recall of about 5 million early 2000s Honda vehicles that were built with faulty Takata airbags does not seem to have upset car customers, who helped Honda’s October sales rise 5.5% over last year’s October sales figures. That’s comparable to the auto industry’s overall 6% sales increase.

“We find that the Honda customer is very loyal to the brand. They seem to be forgiving if something does go wrong,” Todd McCallum, who owns a Honda dealership in Michigan, told USA Today.

The 2015 Honda Accord EX-L V-6 Coupe, named a 2015 KBB Best Buy

The 2015 Honda Accord, one of the company’s best-selling models

University of Michigan Ross School of Business professor Christie Nordhielm says that the high number of vehicle recalls this year has overwhelmed car customers and lessened the impact of this latest round. “There have been so many recalls across so many brands that consumer confusion is extremely high,” Nordhielm noted. “We don’t want people ignoring recall information, but we don’t want them to get hysterical about every one.”

Since the current Honda air bag recalls are limited to mostly 2001-2005 models, customers may not be too worried about Honda’s current lineup. November Honda sales figures will be out soon, and should show just how loyal and forgiving the company’s customers really are.