NHTSA Complaint #11321682 — 2016 HONDA ODYSSEY

SUDDEN LOSS OF ENGINE POWER WHILE ATTEMPTING TO MERGE ON A HIGHWAY. FORTUNATELY I HAD A SHOULDER TO ESCAPE ONTO AS I COULD NOT MAKE IT UP TO HIGHWAY SPEED AND COULD NOT MERGE. FOUND OUT AFTERWARDS THAT THE CAUSE WAS SPARK PLUG FOULING AS A BUILD UP OCCURS DURING ECO MODE AS OIL BYPASSES THE PISTON RINGS ON CYLINDERS EQUIPPED WITH THE HONDA VCM (VARIABLE CYLINDER MANAGEMENT) SYSTEM. THE BUILD UP CONTINUES UNTIL THE ENGINE BEGINS TO MISFIRE AND TRIGGERS THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT AND THE ENGINE RUNS ROUGH, STUMBLES AND DRIVES IN 'LIMP ALONG' MODE. THIS PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED MULTIPLE TIMES (FIRST OCCURRENCE 03/25/2019, LATEST OCCURRENCE 04/16/2020) AND MY LOCAL HONDA SERVICE CENTER HAS FOUND DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODE P0302 INDICATING A MISFIRE CONDITION IN CYLINDER #2. HONDA SERVICE PEOPLE CALL IT THE 'PISTON RING PROBLEM' AS IT IS A WELL KNOW MANUFACTURING DEFECT THAT HONDA DESCRIBES IN TSB 13-081 AND RESULTED IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT (CASE NO. 3:12-CV-1377-SI) AGAINST HONDA. THE LAWSUIT WAS SETTLED IN 2014 AND ALL 2008 THRU 2013 HONDA ODYSSEY MODELS WERE COVERED AND GIVEN AN EXTENDED 8 YEAR UNLIMITED MILEAGE DRIVE TRAIN WARRANTY IN THE SETTLEMENT. APPARENTLY THE DEFECT WAS NOT CORRECTED IN LATER MODELS AS MY 2016 HONDA ODYSSEY IS NOW EXHIBITING THE SAME EXACT SYMPTOMS. MY HONDA WAS 3 YEARS OLD AND HAD 69K MILES AT THE TIME OF THE FIRST OCCURRENCE. THE PROBLEM HAS REOCCURRED MULTIPLE TIMES AND YET HONDA HAS DECLINED TO COVER THE $3000 COST OF REPLACING THE PISTON RINGS (AS RECOMMENDED BY THE HONDA SERVICE CENTER) STATING THAT MY VEHICLE IS OUT OF WARRANTY AND MY VIN IS NOT COVERED BY THE SETTLEMENT.