— A Honda seat belt rivet recall is under a federal investigation following a November 2023 recall of 2023-2024 Honda Accord, 2023-2024 Honda Accord Hybrid and 2023-2024 Honda HR-V vehicles.
Honda recalled nearly 303,000 of the vehicles in the U.S. because missing rivets in the seat belt assemblies could fail to restrain front occupants in crash impacts.
According to the missing seat belt rivet recall, the driver and front passenger seat belts may have been assembled without rivets that secure the seat belt pretensioner quick connectors and wire plates.
Specifically, the seat belt rivets may be missing for both the driver and front passenger seats for the HR-Vs, but only the driver seat belts in the Accords and Accord Hybrids.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to learn more about the Honda recall, including details about the seat belt defects and if the recall repairs are adequate to protect the safety of occupants.
NHTSA says it also wants to know if the recall includes all the models possibly affected by the seat belt problems.
Honda dealers are told to inspect both front seat belts by using a pull force gauge to determine whether the seat belt assemblies are missing the rivets.
Everything depends on if the Honda seat belt pretensioner quick connector separates from the pretensioner assembly while the technician is pulling on the seat belt.
Technicians will replace the seat belt assemblies if separation occurs. If no separation occurs, the seat belt components are deemed "not defective" and do not require replacements.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the Honda seat belt rivet recall investigation.