Honda Issues Recall for Activa 125, Grazia, Aviator, and CB Shine 125 in India

Japanese automaker Honda has just issued the recall for Honda Activa 125, Honda Grazia, Honda Aviator, and Honda CB Shine 125 two-wheelers in the Indian market. The recall has been issued in connection with the suspected quality issue of the master cylinder in the front brake of these two-wheelers. This recall is valid for all the Activa 125, Aviator, Grazia and CB Shine two-wheelers manufactured between February 4, 2019 and July 3, 2019. The company has already started contacting the owners of the affected two-wheelers and has started requesting them to bring the models to the service centres of the brand. As per the brand, in extreme conditions the fault with the master cylinder of the front brake of the two-wheelers can also cause the brake of the two-wheelers to lock up. This can prove to be fatal as the locked front brake has the potential to topple the two-wheeler and cause major accidents.

The overall number of affected units is expected to be somewhere in the range of 50,000 units. Apart from contacting the owners at their end, the brand has also set up a portal where the owners of the two-wheelers can enter their Vehicle Identification Number and see whether they need to take their two-wheelers to the service centres. The repair job at the service centre will be done at no cost to the customers. We strongly urge all the customers who brought their two-wheelers in the aforementioned time period to head on to the portal and run a check on their two-wheeler.

Apart from the recall exercise of a brand with otherwise strong reputation for build quality, what one needs to focus on here is that our country still does not have a vehicle recall policy regulated by the government. A lot of western nations have a compulsory recall policy wherein the government regulator looks over the safety of the vehicles and issues penalties as well as directions as per their discretion to the makers regarding recall and safety of products. While the recent BNVSAP (Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program) was a step in the right direction, the government still needs to come up with a strong recall policy to ensure minimum safety measures are followed in the country. As of now, the makers have a voluntary recall policy wherein they recall the vehicles as per their discretion. While, this may be just satisfactory, amid a comprehensive safety policy and a strict vehicle emission policy, a mandatory recall policy sure will do good for the country.