Honda recalls scooters with faulty gas tank bolts

Honda this week recalled 2,154 Lead scooters in Vietnam, saying they had faulty bolts in their gas tanks that needed to be replaced.

The Japanese manufacturer said in a statement on Friday that the bolts do not affect the motorcycles' safety. Honda Vietnam decided to replace them in order to ensure “the best possible operation” of the scooters.

Honda also said only one batch of Lead scooters had this problem (series RLHJF240 AY from 038651 to 041170, and from 715610 to 716800). The company will have its sales agents contact affected customers and replace the bolts for free.

Before the annoucement was made, there was speculation that Honda was secretly recalling the scooters without publicly annoucing the move.

Local news website VTC News said in a report on Saturday that a number of Lead owners had already been notified of the problem by Honda Vietnam sales agents. But when the website contacted the company, its public relations manager denied knowledge of a recall.

Honda Vietnam began selling Lead scooters in December 2008, labelling it a high-end model.

In other news, a Honda Air Blade scooter suddenly burst into flames on a street in Hanoi on Tuesday. Investigation into the incident is ongoing.