While Honda and its subsidiary Acura continued to see strong U.S. sales in November thanks to sustained demand and an improving international supply chain, the company is facing a potentially significant recall affecting some of its top-selling models.
Over the course of November, the Japanese automaker sold 106,035 vehicles in the U.S., a year-over-year increase of 32.8%. While all segments across the Honda and Acura brands improved, trucks remained the primary driver of improving sales, rising nearly 40% from late 2022. Electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles continued to see burgeoning demand in North America, accounting for roughly 23% of the company’s total November sales volume. To date, the car manufacturer has sold 1.18 million units across the U.S. in 2023, placing it 33.2% ahead of its total at the same point in 2022.
But as Honda and Acura celebrate their successes, the two brands are facing pressure from regulatory officials that could result in a recall of some of their best sellers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 2022-2023 Honda Civics, 2023 Honda CR-Vs and 2023 Acura Integras are now the subject of a probe investigating reports of defective steering mechanisms, creating an effect termed “sticky steering.”
In a report submitted by the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation, the automaker attributed the issue to manufacturing procedures that resulted in misshapen gears. While the scope of its inquiry originally focused on current-model-year Civics, the NHTSA recently expanded the probe to include CR-Vs and Integras. Now, more than half a million vehicles are believed to be affected by the problem, but this number may soon grow depending on the Office of Defects Investigation’s ongoing research.
