By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
The South Korean unit of Japan's Honda Motor is recalling 3,290 Accord sedans over the same faulty parts that caused a recall two years ago, a bane for the car maker with just one week left to its competitor Toyota's full-fledged market entrance.
The purpose of the recall is to fix an oil leak in the steering system, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Sunday.
The auto firm called back 2,913 Accord sedans in 2007 due to the same problem, but is carrying out another recall because the parts used during the repair may possibly leak again.
The affected models include those made and sold from Nov. 10, 2003 through Jun. 29, 2007, according to the ministry. Owners can receive free repair starting Oct. 12.
Industry experts say Honda's recall timing couldn't be worse as its Japanese archrival Toyota is planning to launch sales of its most popular models ― Camry, Prius and the RAV4 ― in South Korea on Oct. 20.
``Recalls are never good for car makers ― even if they're handled well. It's embarrassing,'' said one industry official, who added that the latest recall is going to be fresh in consumers' memory when comparing different models.
He added that Toyota's less-than-expected pricing is going to challenge Honda and other foreign carmakers to step up their game in order to contend with the fresh competitor.
Many of them already have, as makers including Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi have lowered their prices ahead of Toyota's launch date.
Honda Korea rolled back its car prices by up to 9.9 percent starting earlier this month, which means a 3.5-liter Accord now costs 40.9 million won, down from the previous 45.4 million won. A 2.4-liter model costs 35.9 million won, about 400,000 won cheaper than the earlier price of 39.1 million won.
Nissan and Mitsubishi similarly introduced steep discounts and promotions earlier this month to keep their models attractive against Toyota's line-up.
Toyota is expected to sell the 2.5-liter version of its perennial bestseller Camry for around 35 million won.