Honda profit slips on air-bag woes despite sales growth
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Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co.'s fiscal second quarter profit has slipped compared to a year ago as costs related to a massive air-bag recall erased the perks of strong sales.
Honda reported Wednesday that its July-September profit totaled 174 billion yen ($1.5 billion), down 1.7 percent from 177 billion yen a year earlier.
Quarterly sales jumped nearly 16 percent on-year to 3.78 trillion yen ($33 billion), according to the Tokyo-based maker of the Accord compact, Odyssey minivan and Asimo robot.
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In September, Honda and some people suing the automaker over faulty Takata Corp. air-bag inflators agreed to a $605 million settlement in the U.S.
Honda was among Takata's biggest customers. The defective inflators are linked to 19 deaths and dozens of injuries. Some 100 million air-bag inflators were recalled worldwide.