Honda to recall 1.5 million vehicles in US

Honda Motor said Friday it will recall about 1.5 million vehicles in the United States to update the software that controls their automatic transmission.

Honda said in a press release on its US site that the vehicles in the voluntary recall will include certain Accord, CR-V and Element models.

No injuries or deaths have been reported related to this condition, the statement said.

The Japanese carmaker will also recall 760,000 Honda models sold in China to fix the same problem, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

A bearing in the automatic transmission system was not built with sufficient strength and as a result the transmission system may emit an abnormal noise or cause the engine to stall under certain gear shift operations, Honda said.

Similar Honda models are sold in Canada, Europe and other markets. Altogether, 2.49 million Honda models installed with the faulty transmission are involved, Kyodo quoted Honda officials as saying.

They said the affected Honda models are not sold in Japan.

Honda has received reports of an abnormal transmission noise and transmission malfunctions but there have been no reports of accidents, the company said.

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