No Odyssey recall for Oz

A HONDA safety recall involving more than half a million cars globally will not affect Australian vehicles.

Honda Australia has advised that local Odysseys will not be affected because our version is different to the previous-generation Odyssey at the centre of the recall in North America.

Honda Motor Co announced on October 25 it would recall about 528,000 vehicles worldwide to fix a similar problem that led to last week’s recall of about 1.5 million Toyota vehicles, including more than 25,000 superseded Toyota and Lexus models in Australia.

About 435,000 of the affected Hondas are US-delivered model-year 2005-2007 Odyssey people-movers, which along with a smaller number of 2005-2007 Acura RL sedans face potential problems with a brake master-cylinder seal.

Japan-based components supplier ADVICS Co made the seals for both Toyota and Honda. As with the Toyota recall, Honda says the seals may fail and cause brake fluid to leak if factory-issued brake fluid is replaced with non-factory-spec fluid.

Like Toyota, Honda is expected to replace the defective seals with a newly designed component that is compatible with a wide range of brake fluids (such as the now-common Dot 4 type) without causing leaks. Such a seal is already being produced by ADVICS.

In Honda’s case, no accidents or injuries have been reported due to the faulty seals, which can lead to brake failure.