Honda Recalls 98,892 Vehicles Over a Seat Sensor That Can Trigger Airbags Without Warning

Honda is recalling 98,892 vehicles in the United States because a sensor in the front passenger seat can crack, short circuit, and cause the airbags to deploy when they should not. The recall reaches across nearly the entire Honda and Acura lineup from the past decade, including the Civic, Accord, CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey, and several Acura models, which means a lot of owners need to check whether their car is on the list.

The recall is filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as campaign 26V332, and it expands an earlier Honda recall from 2024 that addressed the same part. An unintended airbag deployment is not a minor glitch. Airbags fire with explosive force, and a deployment that happens without a genuine crash can injure occupants and can startle a driver into losing control. That is why regulators treat this category of defect as a serious safety risk even when the trigger is a small electronic component.

Here is what the seat sensor does, why it fails, the full list of affected models, why this is the second time around for the same part, and what owners should do now.

What the Seat Weight Sensor Does and Why It Fails

Modern cars use a sensor built into the front passenger seat to detect whether someone is sitting there and roughly how much they weigh. That information feeds the airbag control system so it can decide whether to arm the front passenger airbag, suppress it for a small child, or adjust how it deploys. It is the reason the “passenger airbag off” light blinks on when the seat is empty or holds only a light load.

Honda found that this seat weight sensor can crack over time. A cracked sensor can short circuit, and that electrical fault can disrupt the airbag system’s logic so that the airbags deploy unintentionally during a crash event rather than behaving as designed. Because the fault is electrical and progressive, an owner may have no warning that anything is wrong until a warning light appears or, in the worst case, an airbag fires when it should not.

The fix is a hardware replacement rather than a software patch. Dealers will replace the seat weight sensors, free of charge, which removes the cracked component instead of trying to work around it. Honda has assigned a long string of internal repair codes to the campaign because it spans so many different models and seat designs.

Which Hondas and Acuras Are Covered

The 98,892 affected vehicles stretch across model years from 2016 to 2026 and cover a wide slice of both brands. On the Honda side, the recall includes the 2016 through 2022 Accord and 2017 through 2022 Accord Hybrid, the 2016 through 2022 Civic along with the Civic coupe, hatchback, and Civic Type R from various years, the 2017 through 2022 CR-V and 2020 through 2022 CR-V Hybrid, the 2017 through 2022 Pilot, the 2019 through 2021 Passport, the 2017 through 2025 Ridgeline across several model years, the 2018 through 2026 Odyssey, the 2019 through 2022 Insight, the 2019 through 2021 HR-V, and the 2018 through 2020 Fit.

On the Acura side, the recall covers the 2018 through 2023 TLX across certain years, the 2019 through 2024 RDX, and the MDX from 2017 through 2026 across several model years. Because the affected list mixes specific years for each nameplate, the only reliable way to know if your vehicle is included is to look it up by VIN rather than assume based on the model name alone.

To check, enter your 17-character VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls or contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda expects to mail owner notification letters around July 6, 2026, but the VIN lookup is already the fastest way to confirm your status. Your VIN appears on the lower driver’s side of the windshield, on your registration, and on your insurance card.

Why This Recall Expands an Earlier One

This is not the first time Honda has addressed the passenger seat sensor. The new campaign expands a previous recall from 2024 that covered the same defect on a smaller group of vehicles. Expanded recalls happen when an automaker, often after pressure from regulators or a stream of new complaints, concludes that the original population was too narrow and that more vehicles share the same flawed part.

For owners, the practical consequence is important. If you had the earlier recall work done, do not assume you are finished, because an expanded campaign can require a return visit. And if your vehicle was not part of the 2024 recall, it may be swept in now. The safest move is to run your VIN again even if you remember dealing with a Honda recall in the past, since the status can change when a campaign grows.

What Owners Should Do

First, check your VIN now rather than waiting for the letter, since notification mail will not reach every owner until July and some owners with older vehicles may have moved since purchase. The NHTSA lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls shows every open recall on your vehicle, not just this one, so it is worth doing periodically regardless.

Second, if your car is included, schedule the free sensor replacement as soon as your dealer has parts. There is no charge for the repair, and you do not need to be the original owner or keep the car under its factory warranty to have the work done. Until the repair, pay attention to any airbag or passenger-occupant warning light on the dashboard, and have it checked promptly if one appears.

Third, if you ever experience an airbag that deploys without a clear crash, report it to NHTSA through the Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or online at nhtsa.gov. Complaints like that are part of what drives an automaker to expand a recall in the first place, and filing one helps regulators see the full scope of a problem. For now, an affected Honda or Acura is fine to drive, but the seat sensor replacement is the kind of repair worth booking sooner rather than later.

Sources:

• CarPro Weekly Recalls Summary (Campaign 26V332)
• How-To Geek: Ford, Honda, Toyota and others issue major June recalls
• NHTSA Recalls Lookup (Campaign 26V332)