Honda & Others Sued Over Infotainment Systems

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Honda-Odyssey-2018

Ford, Subaru and now Honda are some of the car makers currently being sued by customers over glitchy infotainment systems.

On Friday, two Honda-owners launched a class action suit against the car maker claiming that Honda knowingly sold a faulty infotainment system in its 2018-2019 Odyssey and Pilot vehicles.

Navigation and entertainment functions freeze or malfunction, causing a safety hazard, claimed the suit.  When the infotainment system freezes it can cause the backup camera to fail and the entire console can go black while the car is in motion.  Even the speedometer does not show, said the complaint.

Additionally, the rear seat entertainment system’s DVD player freezes after about 30 minutes, said the suit.

The defendant’s vehicle has been serviced by Honda technicians 8 times but continues to malfunction.  The plaintiffs are Lesley and Tom Conti of Ohio.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, says Honda breached its own warranty, which states that it must repair or replace a defective part.  Honda has not yet found a solution to the infotainment system defect and therefore cannot fix it, says the suit.  It seeks monetary reimbursement for those who purchased or leased an affected Honda and also seeks to prevent Honda from continuing to sell vehicles with the defective infotainment system.

A similar suit by Ford owners against the MyFord Touch is in the process of a settlement. In both cases, the clients were represented by law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

Another suit by Subaru owners was filed in December claiming the Starlink infotainment system of the Subaru Outback class is prone to freezing and malfunctioning.

Source: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

Photo via Consumer Reports

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4 Comments

  1. What about the 2016 MAZDA CX-5 that was supposed to get Apple CarPlay? I bought a new iPhone 8 Plus when I bought my Mazda CX-5, Mazda was posted on Apples iPhone 8 Plus site.

  2. I rent vehicles many times throughout a year. I’ve noticed many of the factory systems operate like old, slow processor computers, yet certain other late, premium model vehicles, are more like a new phone; fast and responsive. At $40K+ for a mini van, I’m thinking that’s somewhere in the middle? Yes software can play a part in it, but is it more about the manufactures going too lean on the processors they use on these systems?

  3. Glad to see it isn’t just the aftermarket having these issues. I understand that factory radios are built by aftermarket manufactures, but it is still nice to see these issues in the OEM side of things. Customers always assume factory is better.

  4. Last week I rented a Chrysler Pacifica brand new with 4 miles on the odometer. UConnect locked up TWICE during my 4-day rental. Screen froze for about 60 seconds, then auto-reset itself and had to bootup over again.

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