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Honda uses Facebook for Takata investigation

Posted on 21 November, 2017

Honda Motor Co Ltd says it will use Facebook Inc's custom audiences tool to find car owners with defective Takata airbags.

The tool, specifically used by Honda, enables advertisers to reach a specified list of users that will in turn match encrypted email addresses associated with recalled vehicle identification numbers to Facebook users.

“When a customer logs into Facebook,” Honda said, “they are presented with a custom message regarding the recall.”

Honda has been the most eager to reach out to affected customers. Utilising Facebook illustrates the lengths at which automakers are having to go reach owners with the relevant defects.

According to a report issued by the Independent Monitor of Takata and the Coordinated Remedy Program, Automakers have recalled or expect to recall by 2019 about 125 million vehicles worldwide to replace air bag inflators, including more than 60 million in the United States.

Defective airbags from Takata have been linked to 18 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but more than 10 million vehicles still remain unrepaired at this point.

“The words ‘grenade’ and ‘ticking time bomb’ accurately convey the lethal potential of these defective inflators,” said the regulators.