Honda issued a stop sale on the Civic Type R Friday over faulty welds in the driver’s side seat cushion frame, according to a dealer communication from the automaker.
The issue means that the frame could fail to secure the seat during a collision, reducing the effectiveness of restraining safety measures, according to a dealer notice posted to the Civic XI forum and filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Friday.
The weld issue is a result of “improper manufacturing,” the document says. While a failure during a crash is the most catastrophic risk, the weld issue can also lead to squeaking and rattling noises that have been noted by Civic Type R owners on the same forum since November.
No specific VIN range or build window is included in the notice, but the document does clarify that an internal system would return which cars do and do not need the repair. At least one user on the Civic XI forum thread has already reached out to their dealer and found that their car is not impacted.
The document claims that parts for the repair are not yet available and says that Honda will not begin notifying owners of cars with the relevant issue until mid-May. The stop-sale is dated as starting on March 31 and set to continue “until further notice,” presumably when a repair procedure is set and completed.
Owners can check the NHTSA recalls site, where information on the recall should be posted soon.