The 2004 Honda Civic GX has 5 recalls, all centered on the same critical hazard: the frontal airbag inflators on both the driver and passenger sides can explode and send sharp metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.
These five recalls all address the same underlying defect in the Takata airbag inflators fitted to both front seating positions. When either the driver or passenger airbag deploys in a crash, the inflator canister can rupture violently rather than inflating the bag in a controlled way, turning the module itself into a source of metal shrapnel directed at whoever is seated in front of it. Prior repair attempts did not fully resolve the issue across all affected vehicles, which is why multiple recall campaigns exist for what is essentially the same failure. The risk is present on both sides of the front seat, meaning both the driver and front passenger face exposure to this hazard in any crash severe enough to trigger airbag deployment.