Honda Fit Recalled for Headlight Issue

Honda said Thursday morning it is recalling more than 1.3 million Honda Fit vehicles globally for potential headlight problems. The American division said that in the US alone, a total of 143,083 vehicles from the 2007 and 2008 model years are affected.

According to the manufacturer, "the vehicles could lose low-beam headlight functionality", due to a problem with the routing of the wiring harness for the headlight control switch. More specifically, the plating on the wiring harness connectors for the low-beam circuit can become worn after repeated use.

The Japanese automaker states that "worn plating on the connectors could result in corrosion and cause the connector to overheat and fail", resulting in a loss of low-beam headlight functionality. Honda says that the high-beam headlight circuit and function are not affected.

Owners of these vehicles will receive a notification from Honda, and should bring them to a Honda dealer for inspection. If needed, the dealer will replace the wiring harness terminal, and the wiring harness connector will be secured in place. If any signs of damage in the connector exist, the dealer will replace the headlight switch. As usual, the interventions will be carried out at no expense to the owner.

Notification to customers will start in January 2011.

The same model has been involved in another recall for a similar problem. In January, Honda recalled over half a million Fit compact cars for a faulty window switch that has the potential of catching fire. There were 7 confirmed cases in the US, two of which actually involved fires.