Stop driving older Honda, Acura models

If you own an older Honda or Acura, the government is urging you to stop driving it because its Takata airbags have a 50 percent chance of exploding in a crash.

The warning applies to about 313,000 models of the Honda Accord (2001-2002), Honda Civic (2001-2002) Honda CR-V (2002-2003), Honda Odyssey (2003), Honda Pilot (2003), Acura TL (2002-2003) and Acura CL (2003).

Takata inflators that can explode in a crash have been linked to 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries in the United States. Auto safety regulators said eight of those deaths occurred in Honda and Acura vehicles subject to the warning.

“With as high as a 50 percent chance of a dangerous air bag inflator rupture in a crash, these vehicles are unsafe and need to be repaired immediately,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “Folks should not drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately, free of charge.”

The vehicles contain a manufacturing defect that “greatly increases the potential for dangerous rupture when a crash causes the airbag to deploy,” the Transportation Department said in a statement. Lab tests of the vehicles showed rupture rates of has high as 50 percent.

More than 70 million Takata inflators have been or will be recalled by 2019 in the largest and most complex recall action in U.S. history.

Takata said in a statement it supports efforts to boost the recall.

According to NHTSA, Honda will redouble efforts to find and fix recalled vehicles and provide additional information to the agency about its work, including weekly progress reports about vehicle repairs.

The carmaker said in a statement that it agreed with the analysis of testing and the 313,000 vehicles “should only be driven to a dealer in order to have their Takata airbag inflators replaced as rapidly as possible.”