Honda Malaysia recalls over 147,000 cars to fix airbags

KUALA LUMPUR -- Honda Malaysia is recalling 147,894 domestically made vehicles to replace the front passenger airbag inflators, the company said on Thursday.

The recall affects eight models manufactured from 2003 to 2011. The automaker issued a recall in Malaysia only about a month ago, also involving faulty airbags. The latest move brings the total number of recalled Honda vehicles in the Southeast Asian country to 329,059.

Globally, the Honda Motor group has recalled some 51 million vehicles. The Japanese automaker is the No. 1 customer of Japan's Takata, the autoparts supplier that made the airbags in question. 

The models affected this time around range from sedans to compacts and minivans -- specifically the Accord, City, Civic, CR-V, Freed, Insight, Jazz and Odyssey. The company will send letters to affected customers and has pledged to absorb all recall-related costs. 

"Honda Malaysia reiterates that all of its current-selling models are not affected," the company said in a news release. It stressed it "will continue to uphold transparency and stringent control to ensure customer safety."

DRB-Hicom owns a 34% stake in Honda's Malaysian subsidiary. Proton -- the Malaysian conglomerate's wholly owned unit and once the top-selling automaker in the nation -- also recalled about 200,000 cars this year over other defective parts.

Worldwide, 11 known deaths have been blamed on exploding Takata-made airbag inflators, which can send shrapnel into the passenger compartment. There have also been numerous reports of injuries.

Honda Motor's operating profit has declined for two straight years, partly as a result of the recalls.

‘Dead Cat’ Taken To Animal Shelter Turns Out To Just Be A Hand Puppet

A sad situation turned hilarious on Monday when someone brought a “dead cat” to an animal shelter on the island of Guernsey and it wound up being a dog hand puppet.

GSPCA

The puppet upon intake to the shelter.

The person who brought in the toy was “very upset” and had wrapped it in a blanketinside a box, according to a statement by the Guernsey Society For the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals. When GSPCA manager Steve Byrne brought the box into another room to check the animal for any identification, he was pleasantly surprised to find it was a wet, mud-covered puppet.

GSPCA

Not a cat. 

“When I returned to say what it was, first there was disbelief and then we had a very light hearted moment and joked about it and was extremely relieved to find that they had worried over a cuddly toy,” Byrne told The Huffington Post in an email.

GSPCA

All cleaned up!

The nonprofit’s statement features a somewhat alarming collection of past mix-ups they’ve encountered, including stories like:

• “A call to a sick seal on a beach was in fact a duvet”
• “Also a possible dead dog on a beach was another duvet” and
• “A hedgehog rescue once turned out to be a pine cone”

In the case of the pine cone, Byrne said the person who mixed it up was an elderly man “in ill health” who called for help. The worker who drove out to didn’t have the heart to tell him it was actually a pine cone, and instead “kindly picked up the pine cone” to take it back to the shelter.