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Honda Passport, Pilot Recalled Over "Incomplete Body Welding"

What happens when you take a Pilot, tell the engineers to make it more like an SUV, then delete the rearmost row of seats? The Passport happens, and a few of them are under recall for “incomplete body welding.”
Honda Passport 22 photos
Photo: Honda
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The three-row Pilot is also affected by this issue, and American Honda Motor Co. believes that 10 units are involved in total. The estimated percentage with the defect per se is 60 percent, and the recall population was determined based on manufacturing records for the 2019 and 2020 model years.

In a document sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the automaker explains that “missing body welds” pose a problem to passenger safety in the event of a crash. The failure to arrange an inspection of the vehicle and the necessary repairs can also translate to claims and lawsuits.

Boiled down to the essentials, the problem has been traced back to “a weld robot programming error.” This begs the question, why didn’t the quality control inspect the vehicles after the welding robots did their job? The mess-up is so severe, Honda has to replace all of the affected vehicles with all-new ones.

The automaker may expect to complete customer notification by early December, but no timeline has been offered in regard to the replacement of the said Pilot and Passport population. Honda claims that the front frame left- and right-side upper members “may not have been completely welded to the unibody,” thus failing to comply with the requirements of motor vehicle safety standard 208 for occupant crash protection and FMVSS 214 for windshield zone intrusion.

On a related note, the Pilot soldiers on for 2020 as one of the most complete three-row SUVs in the segment. Pricing starts at $31,550 (excluding destination) for front-wheel drive and a naturally aspirated V6 with 280 horsepower. Of course, the eight-passenger seating arrangement is included in the price.

The Passport is still listed for the 2019 model year on Honda’s U.S. website, and from a stylistic standpoint, there’s no denying the five-seater SUV looks better than the Pilot. Retail pricing for this fellow kicks off at $31,990.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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