Why have affected Honda Odyssey minivan owners had to wait six years for a remedy?
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Honda have been in the firing line following their reportedly lax attitude in recalling defective minivans.
Vehicle owners have reported that their minivans’ second row seats are unstable. The second-row seats have a lever that allows the seats to slide forward so that passengers can access the third row.
The Japanese automakers state that the release lever may remain unlocked due to a manufacturing fault of the spring, which allows the second-row seats to move spontaneously – also known as free-sliding.
In the event of a crash, an unlocked seat could jolt second-row passengers forward, which could cause disastrous injuries; which is rather worrying…
The Japanese automaker apparently got their first report of the problem in January 2011, but has taken nearly six years to recall almost 700,000 minivans manufactured between 1 August 2010 and 1 October 2015. The January 2011 report received details how a warranty claim was made for the second-row seats not locking into place, but Honda were apparently unable to identify the root cause of the defect, and decided to continue monitoring the field for related incidents.
A complaint filed in 2014 noted that:
“…the seats slides back and forth. If there is a person in the seat it is a very dangerous situation as my passengers have hit their legs on the seat in front of them going at a very slow speed.”
From January 2015 to November 2016, Honda continued to monitor and inspect the affected warranty parts from the market. It was not until November 2016 that the Japanese automaker found that, in worst case scenarios, the technicalities of the amount of grease applied to the cam and the grease hardening under specific climatic conditions, along with the surface roughness of the parts, all contributed to the seat not locking into place.
16 December 2016 was the day Honda finally determined that a defect of the second-row seats was enough to conduct a safety recall, and accepted that a safety hazard existed. You can argue that the 689 warranty claims should’ve been enough for Honda to rethink the safety of the Odyssey minivans, but, instead, Honda has arguably put many passengers’ lives in danger.
However, as of 16 December, the Japanese automaker says that they’ve not received any reports of injury or death in relation to the second-row seats defect.
To rectify this safety risk, Honda has implemented a ‘Remedy Programme’. The programme will involve contacting all affected vehicle owners in mid-February asking them to bring their vehicle to the nearest Honda automobile dealer. The fix will involve installing an additional bracket and spring to both second-row seats at no additional cost to the owner. To ensure that the remedy is sufficient, the vehicle owner will be asked to slide the second-row seat into a preferred position and test the lever to fix the seats into position.
Because the recall encompasses a significant amount of vehicles, Honda has noted that the necessary parts to fix the defective vehicles will not be available until spring 2017. This means that most vehicle owners will have to continue driving their minivans with the safety hazard for a few more months before the defect is fixed.
Isn’t six years long enough for owners to wait for a remedy?
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