The 2002 Honda Civic GX has 5 recalls, all centered on the same critical hazard: both the driver and passenger frontal airbag inflators can explode and send metal fragments into the cabin, posing a risk of serious injury or death.
All five recalls address the same underlying defect in the frontal airbag inflators. When either the driver or passenger airbag deploys in a crash, the inflator can rupture rather than inflate the bag normally, scattering sharp metal fragments throughout the cabin. These fragments can strike the driver, the front passenger, or anyone else seated nearby. Because both sides of the vehicle are affected, no front-seat occupant is insulated from the risk. Prior repair attempts on some of these vehicles did not fully resolve the issue, which is why multiple campaigns exist for what is essentially the same defect. If this vehicle has not yet been serviced under these recalls, the airbag system as currently installed carries a meaningful risk of causing harm in the very crash it was designed to protect against.