— A Honda battery warranty is allegedly useless for 2016-2019 Honda Accord and 2017-2019 Honda CR-V vehicles that allegedly suffer from parasitic battery drain.
According to a class action lawsuit, the Honda vehicles include a 100-month replacement battery limited warranty for batteries purchased from Honda dealerships.
Defective Accord and CR-V batteries are to be replaced for free during the first three years, then the warranty provides a sliding scale credit towards the purchase of a replacement battery for the remaining 64 months.
Plaintiff Ronald Raynaldo says he purchased a used 2017 Honda Accord which soon suffered from parasitic battery drain, although the plaintiff says he didn't know what was causing the problem. The plaintiff says his Accord didn't start multiple times which caused him to jump-start the battery.
According to the plaintiff, he still notices electrical problems with his windows due to the alleged battery problems.
The class action alleges Honda breached its warranties by failing to fix the parasitic battery drain even though several service bulletins have been issued to dealerships regarding Accord and CR-V battery problems.
The plaintiff says parasitic battery drain occurs when electrical components in a vehicle fail to shut down once the vehicle is parked and turned off. This allows the components to continue to pull power from the battery. The battery will eventually die and other components will be affected, especially the alternator.
The lawsuit alleges Accord and CR-V owners become stranded when the batteries drain and the vehicles refuse to start. Safety features will also fail, including important emergency hazard lights and headlights.
The plaintiff says the alternator can wear out from overuse and force owners to spend anywhere between $200 to $800 to repair and replace, in addition to the cost of $45 to $250 to replace the battery.
The Honda battery replacement lawsuit alleges the automaker refuses to recall the Accords and CR-Vs to save on the expense associated with a recall.
The lawsuit also alleges Honda owners may pay hundreds or thousands for repairs and replacements, but these are allegedly only temporary fixes because the replacement batteries and components will also fail.
Honda Battery Warranty and Replacement Complaints
Honda allegedly sold more than 2 million of the Accord and CR-V vehicles, and many complaints have been filed regarding those vehicles. The Honda battery replacement lawsuit references complaints submitted to CarComplaints.com, including from the owner of a 2019 Honda CR-V.
In May 2019, the owner said her SUV “stall[ed] out,” first when she was driving 10-15 mph in her work parking lot. It allegedly happened again three weeks later as she was driving 60 mph on a highway when the CR-V “completely died with no warning lights or indication.”
Additionally, she says the vehicle also lost power steering and the engine wouldn't restart.
The problem allegedly occurred again when the CR-V "completely stalled out" while she was driving, leaving her in danger of getting hit by other vehicles.
The Honda battery class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California: Ronald Raynaldo, v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, and Kuzyk Law, LLP.