NHTSA Complaint #11639760 — 2016 HONDA HR-V

I was entering the highway when without warning, my car stopped moving. I hurriedly shifted into Park so I would not drift into the highway, and thankfully I was able to safely drift into the exit lane. I tried to troubleshoot by turning the engine off and shifting into neutral to move the car out of the way, but it was completely undrivable. At 115,000 miles, this came as a shock to me, as I purchased my first Honda because of its reliable reputation. I had recently gotten my anti-theft system repaired, as well as a state inspection at a local Honda dealership, and there was no indication that there was a problem with the transmission. I researched the issue and accessed my service records, and I found that the problem was with the CVT transmission and that I was not alone. I pride myself on the regular maintenance of my vehicles and keep meticulous records, and while I waited on the diagnosis, I found the records on the steps taken to address this problem: -Notification from Honda about the extended warranty (10 years, 150k miles) in 2021 -Software update was performed on July 22nd, 2021 to update the PCM software to warn of premature CVT belt deterioration. From the Service Bulletin 21-046, “DTC P271E is added so at the early stages of a CVT primary belt failure, the D light will flash, the MIL will come on, and engine power output will be reduced. This will lessen the chances of an unexpected, sudden loss of acceleration and allow the customer an opportunity to get the vehicle to a Honda dealer”. The service tech told me the CVT belt had snapped, destroying the transmission, just as the service bulletin had forewarned. During this incident, there was NO indication that my transmission was going bad - no MIL light, no flashing D light, no slippage, no reduction of engine power, or verbal warning when my car was serviced last. The software update that was intended to warn me of this very occurrence failed miserably.