Honda recalls over 300,000 vehicles for seat belt issues

Context: The front seat belt's pretensioners, which are meant to tighten a seat belt in the event of an accident, were made without a rivet, according to reports from Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

• Without the rivet, seat belt pretensioners "will not properly restrain the occupant in the event of a collision," which could increase the risk of injury, per the reports.
• The company said it had received its first complaint surrounding the missing device in May.

Anyone with affected vehicles will be contacted via mail and be asked to take their vehicle to a Honda dealer, which will inspect and "replace the seat belt pretensioner assembly with a non-defective part" if needed, per the reports.

Threat level: As of Nov. 16, Honda had no reports of injuries or deaths from the defective part.

• Honda and the NHTSA said there were 303,770 potentially impacted vehicles, but the company estimates less than 1% of these vehicles need a device replacement, per AP.
• The NHTSA said wearing a seat belt in the front seat of a passenger car can reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45% and moderate to critical injury by 50%.

Of note: Honda has issued 14 other recalls in 2023 alone, according to CNN.

• Honda told Axios on Sunday that it had no additional comment.

Go deeper: General Motors recalls 950 Cruise driverless vehicles after serious collision