Honda Motor Co. is recalling nearly 652,000 sedans, minivans and sport utility vehicles because of a defect that allows drivers to remove the key from the ignition when the vehicle isn't in park.

The National Highway Safety Administration said Monday it has records of four injuries, 28 crashes and 169 complaints about the defect, which is caused by excessive wear in the ignition switch. In many cases, drivers assumed their vehicles were in park because they were able to remove the key. In at least one case, a rolling SUV caused a multi-vehicle accident.

Affected vehicles are the 2002 CR-V SUV, the 1997-99 Acura CL and 1999 Acura TL sedans, the 1999 Odyssey minivan and the 1998-99 Accord sedan and coupe. A total of 651,989 vehicles are involved in the recall.

Honda says consumers should use the parking brake until the company repairs the vehicles.

This is the second time in a year that Honda has recalled the 2002 CR-V. In July, Honda recalled 247,019 CR-Vs because excessive corrosion was preventing the automatic transmission from shifting into park.

(China Daily November 4, 2003)