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The hits keep coming for Honda Motor Corp., as one of the world’s most prominent and popular automobile manufacturers has become a name synonymous with defects and recall in 2012. Adding to the company’s bevy of vehicles that have been affected by previous announcements is the CR-V, specifically those models manufactured and sold between 2002 and 2006, as the smaller sports utility vehicles may have been produced with a defect in the driver side power window switches on the doors.

While a mistake with something as seemingly insignificant as a window switch may seem harmless, the situation is certainly much more serious. There’s a chance that when a car comes into contact with considerable water – like a rain shower or car wash, for instance – the water could leak into the power window system, which can cause fires in the vehicle doors. Because of this issue, Honda is recalling 268,655 CR-V vehicles in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Honda will also recall 220,000 CR-Vs in Europe and Africa for the same issue.

But the 268,655 in the U.S. is the key number, because that means that since March, Honda has announced the recall of more than 1.7 million automobiles across the country. It started with a significantly smaller recall earlier this year of Acura and Accord sedans over potentially leaky power steering hoses. Of course, like this latest recall, the defect posed a serious fire threat, and it was eventually expanded to include more than 672,000 vehicles. Unfortunately, that recall has already been delayed until 2013, because Honda admittedly was unprepared, lacking the resources and parts to replace every hose.

Additionally, Honda announced last week that it would be recalling more than 820,000 Civic and Pilot models because of defective wiring in the headlights that could not only cause the low-beam lights to fail while the car was operating, but they could also melt and create yet another fire hazard.

Meanwhile, as part of today’s recall, the recall tells consumers, “As a precaution, owners are advised to park outside until the recall repair has been performed.” This statement is buried in the middle of the recall notice and has barely been mentioned by news stories which have covered the recall.

For more about this recall and Honda’s “precaution”, visit NewsomeBlog.com.