Honda said on Tuesday that its fiscal-year net profit fell 8.9 per cent to $4.4 billion as Japan's number three automaker grapples with soaring recall costs, including from an exploding airbag crisis linked to at least five deaths. The Civic maker downgraded its profit forecasts twice before the results were published, as it warned the airbag scandal at supplier Takata would take a toll on its bottom line, as well as falling demand in Japan and the world's biggest vehicle market, China. The company said it earned 522.7 bn yen ($4.4 b) in the year through March - worse than its most recent estimate of a 545 bn yen profit and missing analyst expectations.