NHTSA Complaint #11432936 — 2007 HONDA CIVIC

While driving my 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid at approximately 5 mph, entering a left hand turn from a complete stop, the passenger side driveshaft broke (i.e., the so-called "CV axle" on my front wheel drive vehicle), and a piece of the driveshaft approximately 8 inches long fell into the roadway with a loud audible clunk. We pulled off to the side of the road and were immediately able to retrieve the broken piece. I still have the broken piece in my possession, and I could mail it to an investigator if desired. Photos of the broken axle piece are also attached, together with a dealer repair invoice which lists the Honda part numbers for the replacement parts (due to an availability issue, the dealer used non-OEM parts to perform the repair, whose part numbers may or may not match the original OEM part numbers). It's clear from inspection that the broken driveshaft was initially covered by an anti-rust coating (portions of the coating are still visibly adhered), however most of this coating wore away and the underlying metal was substantially corroded by salt, which ultimately caused the part to fail. This vehicle has been registered in the state of Massachusetts (a so-called "salt-belt" state) for at least as long as I have owned it (since 2010) and possibly before that as well. The failure mode of the driveshaft (i.e., salt corrosion and breakage due to a failed anti-rust coating) precisely matches the failure mode described in an existing NHTSA Recall Notice: 20V-770, which covers this same part. This existing recall notice already applies to several other Honda vehicles in "salt-belt" states, however it does not yet extend to my specific model and year. Given the close similarities between the failure in my vehicle, and the existing recall notice, I would like to ask the NHTSA to further extend recall 20V-770 to incorporate my vehicle as well.