The first 12,000 U.S. customers who purchased 2015 Honda Fit subcompact vehicles will be asked to have the vehicles retrofitted to get top marks from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Honda and the IIHS announced this week.
The action is aimed at allowing all 2015 Fit vehicles to have the same front bumpers as vehicles made after June 9 when the automaker changed the way they were manufactured, said Chuck Thomas, chief engineer for vehicle safety at American Honda, according to Reuters.
Honda said it will let the affected 12,000 Fit owners in late September to bring the vehicles to dealers for the retrofit.
The release of the 2015 version of the Fit was delayed and it caught the attention of U.S. consumers. Fit sales were down 12 percent through July compared to a year earlier.
The IIHS said seven months ago that the 2013 Honda Fit vehicle was one of the poorest performers among 11 subcompact vehicles tested to simulate what occurs when the front corner of a vehicle hits another vehicle, a tree, or a utility pole.
Of the 11 vehicles, just General Motors' Chevrolet Spark scored well.
A vehicle must be rated at least "Acceptable" in small front overlap tests and "Good" in four other tests to be called an IIHS Top Safety Pick.
Ratings are "Good," "Acceptable," "Marginal," and "Poor."
Honda asked for a second chance in the small overlap protection test once its 2015 Fit arrived. The automaker predicted in January that the vehicle would improve to a "Good" rating.
The vehicle only improved to "Marginal" from "Poor," keeping it from achieving the top IIHS safety award.
Once Honda changed the way it produced the vehicles in Mexico by adding more robust welds to steel beam behind the face of the front bumper, the automaker asked for yet another test.
Honda then improved to an "Acceptable" rating, thus achieving the top safety award.
"We commend Honda for its quick response and for taking the additional step," of reinforcing its front bumper, said IIHS President Adrian Lund, according to Reuters.
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