The statement says a pipe related to the power steering
might need tightening and could be a safety risk.
Guangqi Honda released the Odyssey in April of last year.
The statement says the recall has been reported to China's
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co. said a key parts factory in China
resumed full operation Wednesday following a two-week strike over wages that
forced Honda to halt production at four assembly plants.
The strike highlighted tensions between workers and foreign
companies that look to China as a source of cheap labor and a fast-growing
market amid weak demand elsewhere.
Work resumed after employees of the factory belonging to
Guangqi Honda Automobile Co. accepted Honda's pay increase offer. The plant in
the southern city of Foshan, near Hong Kong, makes transmissions and engine
parts.
"Our factory in Foshan is back to normal
production," said a Honda spokeswoman who would give only her surname, He.
"Every worker is back to their normal production line." A company
statement said Honda's four assembly plants elsewhere in China would remain
idle until at least Thursday and no date was set for production to resume.
Companies in China are finding it harder to attract and keep
workers, who are demanding better pay and working conditions.
Also Wednesday, Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group announced
it was raising pay by 30 percent for factory employees in China following a
spate of suicides. Foxconn makes iPhones and other products under contract.
Foxconn hopes the raises lead to a "happier work
environment," said a company official in Taipei who asked not to be
identified further. Activists accuse the company of overworking employees but
Foxconn denies the allegations.
China's communist government prohibits independent labor
unions but has permitted protests in recent years over labor grievances.
Protests are common in the Yangtze River Delta near Shanghai, though rarely
reported in the state controlled media.
A man who answered the phone at the Foshan office of the
Honda factory's government-affiliated union referred questions to the city
government propaganda office. Phone calls there were not answered.
Honda said Monday the factory employees agreed to a pay
raise of 366 yuan ($53.60) per month for each full-time worker. That would
increase pay for a new employee to 1,910 yuan ($280) per month.
Some workers held out for more and the union said about 30
people fought with union officials Monday, leaving some people hospitalized.
Honda said some production resumed Monday but was halted Tuesday.
The factory in Guangdong province, which abuts Hong Kong,
employs 1,900 people.
Honda has no estimate yet for strike-related losses, said
Hideto Maehara, a company spokesman in Tokyo. He said it was not clear yet
whether the company will be able to make up lost production.
"We will try to make up for the lost production through
measures like increasing production after hours and on weekends," Maehara
said.
The strike came at an awkward time for Honda, which
announced plans last month to expand production capacity in China by nearly
one-third by 2012 to meet surging demand in the world's biggest auto market.
Strong sales in China helped Honda jump from a loss to a 72
billion yen ($774 million) profit for the January-March quarter.
Output was suspended at two Guangqi Honda factories that
make Accord sedans and Odyssey minivans and at Honda Automobile China, which
makes Jazz hatchbacks, all in Guangzhou near Foshan. Dongfeng Honda in the
central province of Hubei suspended output of Civic sedans and CRV SUVs.
