NHTSA Investigation
PE14004
Inadvertent Side Air Bag Deployment
Key Takeaways
- Investigation PE14004 currently maps to 1 tracked vehicle-year page across 1 make.
- This page summarizes the public investigation subject, status, timing, and affected tracked vehicles linked from NHTSA source data.
- The linked component on this record is air bags.
What This Investigation Page Shows
This page summarizes a public NHTSA investigation record tied to one or more tracked vehicle-year pages in our database. Investigation records sit between owner complaints and recall campaigns: they can remain open, close without a recall, or connect to a later remedy action. Use this page to see which tracked vehicles are linked to the record, then open the individual vehicle pages for complaints, recalls, and crash test context.
Investigation Summary
ODI has identified 293 incidents of alleged inadvertent deployment of the side air bags in model year (MY) 2008 Honda Accord 4-door vehicles.This total represents all incidents reported to both ODI and Honda including those from Honda's warranty system (note: the total shown above eliminates all duplicative reports to ODI and Honda).This investigation has revealed that when the driver or front passenger door is shut, the driver-side or passenger-side side curtain air bag can deploy, and in some cases, the side seat-mounted torso air bag can deploy as well.Fourteen people allegedly suffered injuries caused by the deploying air bags.In June 2008, near the end of MY 2008 Accord 4-door production, Honda changed the crash parameter for door closing force, which is embedded in the electronic control unit's software code, in order to reduce the incidents of the inadvertent side air bag deployments.More specifically, the software design change was made on June 5, 2008 for the Accords built in the U.S. and on June 30, 2008 for those built in Japan.ODI found the number of the inadvertent deployment incidents declined significantly for the vehicles with the new crash parameter setting, i.e., the late-built MY 2008 vehicles and all MY 2009 vehicles.Honda reported the Accord 2-door model utilizes a different software/crash parameter than the subject 4-door model.This Preliminary Evaluation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA14-004) to determine, among other things, the risk of air bag deployment injuries to vehicle users in vulnerable positions.The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed online at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification numbers: 10232206, 10235294, 10255323, 10268158, 10268191, 10269514, 10276755, 10279446, 10280675, 10308292, 10319979, 10342520, 10353536, 10408925, 10436506, 10447151, 10458732, 10468196, 10468200, 10493407, 10494971, 10522291, 10524389, 10543092, 10544473, 10545258, 10547591, 10554073, 10563629, 10565311, 10565423, 10576518, 10579241, 10584501, 10585442, 10606937, 10608973.
Manufacturer listed on the source record: Honda (American Honda Motor Co.)
Component listed on the source record: AIR BAGS
Affected Vehicles (1)
| Year | Make | Model |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Honda | Accord |
Browse Affected Vehicles
Affected Models
Affected Years
All data is sourced from NHTSA public records. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or any government agency. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and may not reflect confirmed defects. For official information, visit nhtsa.gov.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026