What 70 owners told NHTSA about the 2024 Honda Odyssey

While driving in normal traffic, when I come to a complete stop and keep my foot on the brake, the Auto Idle Stop system activates as designed. However, when I release the brake to continue driving, the engine intermittently fails to restart properly. Instead, it repeatedly attempts to restart, cycling on and off several times before shutting down completely. When this occurs, the vehicle becomes disabled in traffic and does not respond as expected. It can take multiple attempts and a significant amount of time before the engine finally restarts, leaving me stranded in intersections or in moving traffic. This creates a serious safety hazard because surrounding vehicles continue moving while my vehicle is unable to move. This problem has occurred multiple times under normal driving conditions and is not an isolated incident. During one occurrence, the vehicle failed to restart after the Auto Idle Stop system activated, leaving my vehicle disabled in traffic. As a result of this incident, my vehicle was involved in a collision that **damaged the front and back bumper**. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but the incident clearly demonstrates the significant safety risk associated with this defect. The vehicle is currently at an authorized Honda dealership for diagnosis and repair. I am submitting this complaint because a vehicle that unexpectedly shuts down and fails to restart after Auto Idle Stop activation presents a serious safety hazard. I am concerned that this defect could lead to additional crashes, property damage, or serious injuries if it is not corrected.

NHTSA ODI 11746717

Had to replace starter at 29,000 miles due to auto stop/start prematurely wearing out component.

NHTSA ODI 11745717

When driving with or without the cruise the word BRAKE appears and the van taps it breaks automatically even when there is no reason to do so. There is no vehicle in front or anything on the road to be detected. It occasionally happens when there is a vehicle in the oncoming lane, but happens more often when there are no other vehicles close enough to be detected or cause me to need to slow down. It has been happening for some time now, but I did not know how to report it.

NHTSA ODI 11741199

While driving, the vehicle will suddenly jerk taking control of the steering. As similar defect has been noted on other models. Took to the dealership and they said it is the automatic gear box.

NHTSA ODI 11715676

The camera on top of the windshield and the radar behind the grill failed and the van has less then 12,000 miles! This is a well known issue. There is no obstruction. The area is clean and clear. Totally unacceptable.

NHTSA ODI 11692031

I was driving my vehicle and accelerating. My vehicle suddenly braked with no warning while I was driving. I hit my left side of my head as I was not expecting this to happen. I was nearly rear-ended/nearly caused a multi car accident. It was incredibly scary to have the CMBS go off for absolutely no reason. There was no car ahead of me or other reason for it to happen.

NHTSA ODI 11653992

This complaint alleges issues with this vehicle as follows: 1. Honda has a defective design in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) of all Honda Odysseys, models 2018-2024. 2. Namely, Honda has placed the RADAR behind the large HONDA emblem on the front grille. This causes the radar to give a "RADAR OBSTRUCTED" warning, which disables all Advanced Driver Assistance Systems in the car (Automatic Emergency Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Warning). 3. The "RADAR OBSTRUCTED" warning cannot be reset by restarting the vehicle or disconnecting the battery, requiring recalibration of the RADAR at the cost of $800 each time since it takes several hours to do (per Dealership). 4. The official Honda Odyssey Forum online has countless complaints on the same issue without resolution by Honda. 5. Honda has acted in bad-faith towards their customers since this defect impacts the vehicle's advanced safety features for which buyers incur additional expenses, endangering the lives of passengers. 6. Honda has acted in bad-faith towards their customers by designing a system that requires continuous and substantial expenditures without resolution because it is an engineering problem, i.e., the placement of the radar behind the large, thick plastic H emblem obstructs the radar. 7. I hereby ask that the NHTSA investigate this issue and order Honda to offer a solution in the form of a RECALL that permanently addresses the problem. Thank you for your time and reviewing this systemic issue.

NHTSA ODI 11637742

The automatic braking system activates randomly when merging onto a highway if you do not have your signal activated, and cross a lane line, at the moment you merge onto the highway. I understand that it is the law that you must signal a lane change, however failure to do so should not result in the vehicle slamming on the brakes, especially when you are attempting to increase speed merging onto a highway. When this happens, it is incredibly dangerous. On [XXX] at [XXX] p.m. I was merging onto [XXX] from [XXX] in Illinois. As I was merging onto [XXX], the emergency braking system slammed on the brakes, and alerted me of a possible collision. The car behind me almost ready ended me. The roadway was free and clear. This occurred as I was passing through the lane markings from the on ramp to the expressway. I do not remember if I had my signal on. I do not have exact dates when each of these incidents have occurred, but is happened at least 5-6 times in the year that we have owned the car. There is an ongoing investigation by NHTSA for Honda's emergency braking system, which according to this article has been expanded to 2023 model years including Odyssey [XXX]). I think the investigation should be expanded to include 2024 model years as well. If any other information is needed please let me know. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11637584

Vehicle start up diagnostics show multiple failures, including ABS, e-steering, emergency braking, adaptive speed control. Dealership found a problem with the right rear ABS sensor. The sensor wire harness was severed. The harness showed damage in multiple places (see photos). Besides being severed, it showed another deep cut and a place where the outer plastic sheath was cut away. The loss of ABS sensor made the vehicle exhibit poor handling including braking. The vehicle has only 4000 miles and is in pristine condition with no damage.

NHTSA ODI 11631351

At speed less than 25 mph, the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) did not work. At cross roads this CMBS will not work when a vehicle comes from the side. This will work only if it detects the vehicle's presence in front for more than 3-5 seconds. Will not activate during sudden presence of vehicle at any speed.

NHTSA ODI 11625918

This car continues to slam on the automatic brakes when there is no obstruction. There is no car in front of me today. It almost caused a major accident.

NHTSA ODI 11601830

This vehicle has a feature that displays the posted speed limit on the dash display. The dealership, McGrath Honda in St. Charles, IL has told me this information is gathered by the camera system. Periodically the vehicle will pick up the Highway number sign and use that to display the speed limit. In the attached pictures it shows that we were driving on Highway 110 in Illinois and then the display showed that the speed limit was 10 MPH, which then changed to 110 MPH. Another example, for which we don't have pictures, was when we were driving on Highway 38 in Illinois and the display shows a speed limit of 35 MPH. When this occurred we were not familiar with the area and slowed to 35MPH which caused vehicles behind us to slow down, get very irritated, demonstrate their irritation using hand signals, etc. We resumed the real speed limit, 55MPH after we saw the next speed limit sign. We have had this inspected by the dealership, which performed a hard battery reset that did not fix the issue. The manufacturer, Honda of North America, does not wish to address this issue as ascertained via chat with them. There are no warning signs, the display changes to fictitious speed limits when the camera system picks up road signs other than speed limit signs.

NHTSA ODI 11560671