NHTSA Complaint #11535233 — 2018 HONDA ODYSSEY

In two separate incidents, my vehicle stalled when it tried to restart after being in Auto Idle Stop mode. In both incidents, I was stopped at an intersection where I was making an unprotected left turn. As I was stopped, the Auto Idle Stop mode activated on my Honda Odyssey which turned off the engine. When it was clear to make a left turn, I lifted my foot off the gas which disabled Auto Idle Stop mode. As my engine tried to restart, it stalled. I was able to get it to restart but only after being stalled in traffic for several seconds causing other drivers to honk at me. When my engine restarted, several warning lights lit up on my dashboard for about a second and a warning alarm sounded. Since they were illuminated for such a short period and I was actively trying to clear the intersection, I was not able to see which lights they were but I do remember that one of the lights that lit up in the first incident was the sliding door warning light. The first incident happened in May 2023 when I had about 99,000 miles on my van. The second incident happened in July 2023 with approximately 101,000 miles on my van. The problem happens at seemingly random times and has not been able to be reproduced. There were no other warnings prior to the problem happening. Since my van randomly stalled in the middle of an intersection, I believe this problem posed a safety risk to myself and my occupants as well as other drivers near me. Had I not been able to get my van restarted, I would have been at risk of being hit by oncoming cars. Even the few-second delay in restarting could have been catastrophic had an oncoming car been approaching quickly. I have had no issues with the starter on my van or with issues stalling other than these incidents. The stalls have only occured when coming out of Auto Idle Stop mode. Unfortunately, there is no way to permanently deactivate this mode. It automatically turns on each time I start up my car.