We live in northeastern Pennsylvania, and the humidity in the summer months is typically upwards of 70 percent. Also, the car spent its first 10 years on Long Island, next to the sea. Note that NHTSA and Honda made the recall national. So sure, areas like the gulf coast are even more humid. But the propellant is old and Takata has said it thinks the design used in Hondas is part of the problem. I’m trying to eliminate a risk that is very low probability, but one that would have catastrophic consequences.
Honda started a campaign to have you contact your dealer. Call them and ask about the passenger side. Current recalls on safercar.gov are for the driver’s side only and only in states far more humid than PA. Honda can tell you whether they use the same deployment system on both front air bags. And remember that while you have a couple of months of hot and humid weather, that is the norm for most of the year in the far south. Hot air holds a lot more moisture than cold air. When it is snowing and 10 degrees, the humidity is 100%. But inside your house at 70 degrees, the relative humidity is low enough to shock you when you touch a door knob; probably less than 30%.
The Feds wanted a National recall, but the airbag manufacturer refused. There have been incidents of high explosive airbags outside the “high humidity” States.
And the US Governement also fined Takata to the max this week. That $14,000 a day fine made Takata provide more documents concerning their air bags.