NHTSA Complaint #11496848 — 2022 HONDA PILOT

We discovered that both right and left rear door locks were not operating properly in our brand new 2022 Honda Pilot Touring, preventing the passengers from being able to exit the vehicle. From the original purchase on Oct 27, 2022, the kids had complained of being unable to unlock and open the rear doors from inside the cabin. After continuing problems, I discovered that once the door locks had been locked electronically, either via the drivers side door switch or the key fob, it was impossible to manually unlock and open the right or left rear passenger doors. Again - the rear seat passengers were NOT able to exit the vehicle on their own. Once all doors had been unlocked electronically via the switch of key fob, then the rear doors could be manually locked and unlocked using the lock tabs by each door handle. We took the vehicle to the dealer on Nov 30, 2022 and they confirmed that the locks were not working properly. (Note at this time, the vehicle had already had the rear entertainment system fail and had been at the Honda World Westminster service facility for five (5) days for repairs and while they replaced the control unit) On Dec 2-3, Honda World Westminster service took 2 days to diagnose and repair the vehicle (now 7 days total in the shop), replacing both rear door lock assemblies (Right Rear Latch Assembly Part # 72610-T5R-A31; Left Rear Latch Assembly Part # 72650-T5R-A31). When we received the vehicle I asked what exactly had failed and how could both locks be inoperable on the new vehicle from the dealer, but they could offer no explanation other than poor quality control. I explained that this was more that simply bad parts, it created a serious safety concern as the rear passengers were essentially "trapped" in the rear seat area as they were unable to unlock and open the doors had they needed to exit the vehicle in an emergency. I also called Honda Corp. and advised of the issue, they created ticket # 13512638