— A Honda Civic air conditioner lawsuit has been filed alleging the condensers cause the air conditioners to fail in 2016-2018 Civics.
According to the Honda Civic owner who filed the lawsuit, failure of the air conditioning causes a safety risk to drivers and passengers.
Honda sold more than 1 million model year 2016-2018 Civics, but the class action alleges 57 complaints have been filed with the government between September 2, 2016, and November 26, 2019.
According to the Civic air conditioner class action, Honda should be forced to "repair, recall, and/or replace" all 2016-2018 Civics.
The lawsuit alleges Honda conceals its knowledge of defective air conditioning condensers and how the components are prone to failures. In addition, the plaintiff claims Honda dealers routinely refuse to repair the Civics for free, but instead tell customers expensive repairs are needed by replacing components that aren't defective.
The plaintiff claims Honda’s faulty design and manufacture of the Civic air conditioning systems have caused customers to pay out-of-pocket for "repairing these systems when the problem has arisen outside the warranty period."
The plaintiff also says Honda hasn't offered to reimburse him for his out-of-pocket expenses incurred to repair the air conditioner. Additionally, the automaker hasn't offered to pay for the loss of value of his Civic caused by the air conditioner condenser.
On August 9, 2019, Honda issued technical service bulletin (TSB) 19-091 concerning air conditioner condensers that came from the factory defective in 2016-2018 Civics. Due to the defective condensers, Honda extended the air conditioner condenser warranty to 10 years and unlimited miles.
"American Honda is extending the warranty on the A/C condenser to 10 years from the original date of purchase with unlimited miles. This warranty only covers vehicles that have a defective A/C condenser from the factory. The A/C condenser was not manufactured to specification. As a result, tiny holes may develop in the condenser tube walls that allows the refrigerant to leak out. The warranty extension does not apply to any vehicle that has a leaking condenser due to foreign object damage." - TSB 19-091
Honda said all 2016-2018 Civic owners and lessees would be notified of the warranty extension by November 2019.
Although the lawsuit was filed after Honda notified customers about the extended condenser warranty of 10 years/unlimited miles, the lawsuit says the automaker should "extend the applicable warranties to a reasonable period of time, or, at a minimum, to provide Plaintiff and Class Members with appropriate curative notice regarding the existence and cause of the Defect."
The Honda Civic air conditioner class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California - Wong, et al., v. American Honda Motor Company, Inc., et al.
The plaintiff is represented by McCune Wright Arevalo, and Bradley/Grombacher.
CarComplaints.com has complaints from drivers of the cars named in the air conditioning condenser lawsuit: