Honda preliminary evaluation PE14004
Inadvertent Side Air Bag Deployment. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the air bags on 1 model year (2008). Opened Jan 31, 2014, closed Jul 29, 2014 after 6 months without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedODI has identified 293 incidents of alleged inadvertent deployment of the side air bags in model year (MY) 2008 Honda Accord 4-door vehicles. This total represents all incidents reported to both ODI and Honda including those from Honda's warranty system (note: the total shown above eliminates all duplicative reports to ODI and Honda).This investigation has revealed that when the driver or front passenger door is shut, the driver-side or passenger-side side curtain air bag can deploy, and in some cases, the side seat-mounted torso air bag can deploy as well. Fourteen people allegedly suffered injuries caused by the deploying air bags. In June 2008, near the end of MY 2008 Accord 4-door production, Honda changed the crash parameter for door closing force, which is embedded in the electronic control unit's software code, in order to reduce the incidents of the inadvertent side air bag deployments. More specifically, the software design change was made on June 5, 2008 for the Accords built in the U.S. and on June 30, 2008 for those built in Japan. ODI found the number of the inadvertent deployment incidents declined significantly for the vehicles with the new crash parameter setting, i.e., the late-built MY 2008 vehicles and all MY 2009 vehicles. Honda reported the Accord 2-door model utilizes a different software/crash parameter than the subject 4-door model. This Preliminary Evaluation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA14-004) to determine, among other things, the risk of air bag deployment injuries to vehicle users in vulnerable positions. The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10232206, 10235294, 10255323, 10268158, 10268191, 10269514, 10276755, 10279446, 10280675, 10308292, 10319979, 10342520, 10353536, 10408925, 10436506, 10447151, 10458732, 10468196, 10468200, 10493407, 10494971, 10522291, 10524389, 10543092, 10544473, 10545258, 10547591, 10554073, 10563629, 10565311, 10565423, 10576518, 10579241, 10584501, 10585442, 10606937, 10608973.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2008 Honda Accord.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE14004 a recall?
No. A preliminary evaluation is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is PE14004 still open?
No. It closed on Jul 29, 2014 without a recall.
Which vehicles does PE14004 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2008 Honda Accord. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.