Honda accused in class action of selling vehicles with defective infotainment systems

American Honda Motor Co. faces a federal class-action lawsuit that accuses the automaker of knowingly selling 2018-19 Odyssey minivans and 2019 Pilot crossovers with defective infotainment systems and refusing to fix the problem.

According to the lawsuit, filed March 22, affected owners said the defect has caused their vehicles' infotainment system to frequently freeze or crash, disabling features including the navigation system, radio and rearview camera.

The plaintiffs accuse Honda of breaching its warranty, saying, "Under the New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Honda is required to 'repair or replace any part that is defective in material or workmanship under normal use.' "

The suit claims Honda has failed to fix the vehicles' defect and replaced the defective parts with equally defective parts, leaving consumers caught in a cycle of "use, malfunction, and replacement," adding "despite providing the dealership and Honda engineers eight attempts to repair the plaintiffs' vehicle, the vehicle's infotainment systems continues to malfunction."

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiffs are Lesley and Tom Conti of Ohio, who are representing themselves and affected owners nationwide.

"We estimate that at least 150,000 affected vehicles were sold during the time-frame in which Honda equipped them with the defective infotainment system," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, who is representing Honda owners in the lawsuit. The firm shared a video on its YouTube channel of a client's infotainment system malfunctioning while driving.

A Honda spokesman would not comment on the pending litigation. But the automaker, in a document dated April 2019, acknowledged a problem with the 2018-19 Odyssey: "We're currently investigating an issue that when using CabinWatch and the RES (rear entertainment system) is streaming an application or playing a DVD for 10 minutes or more, a 'Camera System Problem. Image cannot be displayed,' message appears on the Display Audio screen. At the same time, the overhead screen freezes, but the audio keeps playing. So far, we know it's software related, so don't replace any components. When we come up with a fix, we'll release an OTA software update."

Berman said the problem acknowledged in the document is "one manifestation [we think] of the defect — so in other words, they've conceded one facet of the problem and acknowledged there's no fix yet."

The lawsuit seeks financial reimbursement for owners who bought or leased an affected Honda Odyssey or Pilot, and it wants the court to bar the automaker from continuing to sell vehicles with what it calls the defective infotainment system.

According to the lawsuit, reports to NHTSA, the nation's top auto safety regulator, call the affected model "obviously flawed," and cite instances in which the instrument panel, including the speedometer, turned off.

"As soon as I drove off the lot, the car gave me an error ... I took it in six times already no solution just run around," read one report to NHTSA, according to the lawsuit.

Another report in the lawsuit read, "Recurrent problem. Started when vehicle was 2 months old. Taken car to dealer service department. No solution."

The lawsuit lists multiple complaints posted on Carcomplaints.com and Edmunds.com that paint a similar picture.

NHTSA in an email to Automotive News said it would take appropriate action as warranted, and "while the Agency does not have an open investigation into potential defects associated with Honda Odyssey or Pilot infotainment systems, NHTSA encourages consumers to report potential safety concerns."

Berman says there may be more complaints. "We will have a better understanding of the sheer scope of this defect in the discovery stage of the case, which is yet to come," he said. "We have heard from hundreds of owners since we began our investigation and expect that number to continue to grow."