The Japanese car manufacturer has announced that it is to recall around 304,000 of its vehicles that have faulty airbags. USA Today is reporting that the airbags may inflate in an accident with too much pressure, which could cause metal and plastic particles flying resulting in injuries or even death.

Honda have stated that there have been twenty reported incidents so far regarding the issue, which have resulted in two deaths in the US in 2009. This latest Honda recall is affecting the Accord, Civic, Odyssey, Pilot, CR-V and other models, manufactured in 2001 and 2002.

In the US the recall is affecting 273,000 vehicles, Canada has 27,000, Japan almost 2,000, and 2,000 in other countries. Over in Europe there are 359 vehicles affected with 200 of them in Germany, 158 in Israel, and 1 in the UK.

This follows on from recalls made for the same problem in 2008 and 2009, as well as last year. It now covers around 2 million vehicles around the world according to Honda. Hajime Kaneko of Honda said the problem is caused by the use of the wrong material used to deploy the airbags. Before the initial cause of the airbag problem was excessive moisture in the propellant used to deploy them.

Honda has apologized about the recall and feels this latest recall will finally sort the problem, and expects no more in the future. The company is also recalling 912 airbag service parts that were sold for installation in vehicles that were to be repaired after an accident.

Bengt Halvorson of TheCar Connection is reporting that the vehicles are being recalled because the airbag unit doesn’t come up to federal regulation standards. Resent testing revealed the airbag fails to meet regulations on deployment on an unbelted six year old sized crash test dummy.

Owners will be notified by mail starting from the 22nd of this month, or they may contact their dealership themselves to check if their vehicle is affected. Honda recommends that all children under twelve be seated in the rear of vehicles, and in many states children aged six are not permitted to be seated in the front.

In the summer the Crosstour only received a ‘marginal score for its roof strength in a test taken out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Click here to check if your Honda is part of the recall.