By Christina Rogers 

Honda Motor Co. said it failed to report 1,729 death and injury incidents to U.S. regulators in an 11-year period starting in 2003 as results of an internal audit exposed lapses in its ability to meet federal reporting requirements.

The figure more than doubles the actual number of deaths and injuries involving its vehicles, bringing the total during this period to more than 2,843--far more than the 1,114 it had initially reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the auto maker disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday.

In September, Honda commissioned third-party auditors to delve into "potential inaccuracies" in its internal tracking system for death and injuries, after it came to light that it was underreporting incidents to U.S. safety regulators.

Auto makers are required under the Tread Act to notify NHTSA of all deaths and injuries involving their vehicles as "early-warning reports." The agency can fine car companies as much as $35 million for failing to report such incidents in a timely manner.

Honda's findings were provided to NHTSA Monday in response to a federal special order, asking the Japanese auto maker to explain under oath the lapses in its reporting compliance. Of the underreported incidents, only eight were related to Takata Corp. air bag problems, including one death which it brought to NHTSA's attention but failed to document in an early-warning report, Honda says.

"The audit identifies difficult facts about where we did not meet our obligations," said Rick Schostek, an executive vice president at Honda North America. "At Honda, we acknowledge this problem as our management's responsibility."

Honda's safety track-record has been in the spotlight lately amid news of its slow response to reports of exploding Takata Corp. air bags that date back to last decade. Honda's vehicles have so far been linked to four deaths--all involving faulty Takata air bag inflaters.

The company is also facing numerous lawsuits involving occupants allegedly injured or killed by Takata air bags in Honda cars that ruptured during a crash and sent metal shrapnel flying into the passenger cabin.

NTHSA has so far identified about 5 million Honda and Acura vehicles affected by the Takata air bag problems.

As the result of its audit, Honda said it found data-entry errors and lapses in its programming code that result in it failing to capture the full scope of death and injury claims.

The company also faulted what it described as its "narrow interpretation" of the law, causing it to disregard incidents turned up by third-party notices, such as police reports or information gathered by its own hired private investigators. Because of this, it failed to submit early-reporting reports on these incidents to NHTSA.

Honda said it is taking certain steps to improve its reporting compliance, including correcting its computer codes and retraining date-entry workers.

Kevin Vincent, NHTSA's chief counsel, said the agency has received Honda's response "and will immediately begin reviewing the documents as part of our ongoing investigation into Honda's failure to report air bag-related injuries and deaths in a timely manner." The agency declined to comment further.

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the watchdog group, the Center for Auto Safety, urged NHTSA to impose the maximum $35 million fine on Honda for the reporting infractions and refer the case to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

"It strains credulity that a sophisticated company like Honda could make so many data-entry errors, coding errors and narrow interpretations of what's a written claim," he said.

On Oct. 15, Mr. Ditlow wrote a letter to NHTSA accusing Honda of "systematically underreporting death and injury claims". He cited media reports of a lawsuit settled by the company with the family of Ashley Parham, who was killed in May 2009 when the driver-side air bag in her 2001 Honda Accord exploded.

Separately, U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Bill Nelson (D, Fla.) sent a letter to Takata's chairman asking for documents.

The letter outlined more than two-dozen pieces of information a Senate committee is seeking including testing of air bags, a 10-year history on certain air bag production, a description of capacity to build replacement parts and a description of the destruction of documents.

"We still have many significant questions about the circumstances surrounding Takata's manufacturing of defective air bags and their widespread distribution and installation in vehicles sold and driven in the United States," according to the letter.

Jeff Bennett contributed to this article.

Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com

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