How can a speaker begin making a loud popping or crackling noise, even when a sound system is not on? This class action alleges that certain vehicles made by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. have an electrical defect that creates a popping or cracking in the sound system, whether it’s on or off, or that stops all sound from the system when it should be on.
Two alternative classes have been proposed for this action:
- The Nationwide Class is all persons or entities who bought or leased any of the class vehicles in the US.
- In the alternative, the Minnesota Class is all persons or entities who bought or leased any of the class vehicles in Minnesota.
The class vehicles are the following:
- 2020-2021 Honda Pilot (not including LX)
- 2020 Honda Passport (not including Sport)
- 2021 Honda Passport
- 2020 Honda Odyssey (not including LX)
The defect, with its loud noises, the complaint alleges, is unpredictable and can happen at any time, startling the driver and others in the vehicle. According to the complaint, in order to stop the noises, the driver must pull over, shut off the vehicle, and restart it, which works until the problem starts up again.
“Because the Vehicles’ speakers and audio system is responsible for providing audible cues for a wide variety of vehicle functions (including navigation, audio, video, hands-free phone, back up cameras, etc.),” the complaint claims, “the defect causes a wide range of problems for the Vehicles, where the electrical Defect interrupts the functioning of such functions.”
The complaint alleges, “Honda either knew of the defect before marketing the Vehicles or failed conduct adequate testing of the Vehicles[’] prior to its release.” It also claims that Honda must have gotten numerous customer complaints about the problem but continued to sell the vehicles.
Honda has no real fix for the problem, the complaint alleges, but simply replaces defective parts with other inherently defective parts.
The complaint reproduces a pages-long list of reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website:
- “While [I was] driving, both highway and around town, loud crackling would occur through the speakers. Then both the navigation screen and/or the speedometer screen would go completely black…”
- “Recurrent problem. Started when vehicle was 2 months old. … In a 15[-]mile journey, could happen around 15 times…”
- “…The scary thing is you are driving on the road and this happens all of a sudden. You are forced to move over to the right lane. … In all instances, I was driving on the highway at around 60 mph.”
Topic: Automobile
Most Recent Case Event
Honda Electrical Defect and Popping Speakers Complaint
July 1, 2022
How can a speaker begin making a loud popping or crackling noise, even when a sound system is not on? This class action alleges that certain vehicles made by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. have an electrical defect that creates a popping or cracking in the sound system, whether it’s on or off, or that stops all sound from the system when it should be on.
Honda Electrical Defect and Popping Speakers ComplaintCase Event History
Honda Electrical Defect and Popping Speakers Complaint
July 1, 2022
How can a speaker begin making a loud popping or crackling noise, even when a sound system is not on? This class action alleges that certain vehicles made by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. have an electrical defect that creates a popping or cracking in the sound system, whether it’s on or off, or that stops all sound from the system when it should be on.
Honda Electrical Defect and Popping Speakers Complaint