Breakaway Honda: Quality

Aiming for 120% product quality

"We have to aim for 120% product quality. If 99% of the products we make are perfect, that would seem like a pretty good record. However, the customers who become the owners of the remaining 1% will surely consider their products 100% defective. It is unacceptable that even one customer in a thousand–even one customer in ten thousand–should receive a defective product. That's why we have to aim for 120%." When founder Soichiro Honda said this he defined the company's fundamental approach to quality: what it means to strive to be a company society wants to exist. Determined to meet or exceed the expectations of customers, Honda is taking new initiatives to reach ever-higher product quality standards. That is who we are.

To strengthen customer trust by offering products founded in safety and offering a new level of outstanding quality, Honda has created a quality cycle that continuously enhances quality at every stage: design, development, production, sales and after-sales service.

Implementing the Global Honda Quality Standard (G-HQS)

As Honda's production and parts and materials sourcing expand globally, a shared global quality assurance standard is essential to ensuring that all Honda facilities continue to support 120% product quality.

To address this need, Honda established the Global Honda Quality Standard (G-HQS) in April 2005. Based on the ISO 9001*1 and ISO/TS 16949*2 standards under which Honda facilities in Japan and around the world have been or are to be certified, the G-HQS serves to communicate the considerable knowledge Honda has gathered in producing quality products and help prevent issues from recurring. It will continue to conform to ISO certification standards.

As of March 2010, 40 out of 42 Honda production facilities around the world have attained ISO certification, and the two remaining facilities—both new—are engaged in the certification process.

The G-HQS is designed to enhance the quality of Honda-brand products manufactured and sold worldwide. By ensuring that all facilities comply with these standards, we can better facilitate the interoperation of quality assurance systems at different worksites, contributing to quality assurance not only in production activities, but also in distribution and service.

*1 ISO 9001: An international quality control and quality assurance standard
*2 ISO/TS16949: An international quality management system standard for the automotive industry

Honda's quality cycle

By applying design and development expertise to design and development, production preparations, and production (mass production) in order to allow the creation of drawings designed to facilitate manufacturing and develop manufacturing control techniques that limit process variability, we are able to deliver a new level of outstanding quality.

System to enhance market quality

We established a Quality Center to bring together the various components of our organization that are concerned with market quality data, allowing us to enhance our worldwide ability to both prevent quality issues and quickly detect and resolve them when they occur.

Handling quality issues

Honda strives to assure the safety of its products and prevent pollution by means of a recall system designed to protect the users of automobiles and other products by preventing accidents as well as by taking other actions as appropriate under applicable laws.