NHTSA Complaint #11531058 — 2015 HONDA CIVIC

I was on a trip in my 2015 honda civic and going down the highway and all of a sudden the RPM went way up and then the vehicle lost power completely. It left me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the CVT belt came apart causing metal fragments to gather on the speed sensor and make it malfunction. This is a common know issue and well documented on online forums. The cause of failure is excessively high hydraulic pressure within the transmission due to a computer programming error. A Honda recall updated the software. Some Civics have an internal component that was not hardened as much as it should have been. Honda believed they identified, by manufacture date, the Civics that did not receive that weak part and therefore left those Civics out of the recall. However, many, many other Civic owners including me have still experienced catastrophic failure of our transmissions. The software update that the Oct. 2015 recall provided took 20 minutes and cost Honda $33.33 in labor. Those of us with failed transmissions are having to pay $5000-$6000. The cars have to be towed to a dealer for diagnosis for even the possibility of having Honda cover the repair. Generally Honda refuses. This is an extreme safety concern if it fails while traveling in traffic and a nightmare to try to replace. Prior to the transmission failure, I had noticed that the fill plug on the transmission had popped off which was weird. I replaced it and it kept popping off. Turns out after looking online that countless other 2014-15 owners have also experienced this problem caused by pressure buildup within the transmission. I recommended that at minimum Honda be required to issue a software update for all 2014-15 Honda civics regardless of whether they have the internal hardened parts! Really hoping something can be done about this to protect future drivers and keep our roads safe. Thank you!!