Honda Officially Recalls 2016 Civics Over Engine Failures, Continues Halt To New Sales
A week after directing dealers to stop selling the newest model Civic sedans after detecting a problem in the vehicles that could lead to engine failure, Honda has announced an official recall of the affected cars.
Honda issued a recall of approximately 45,000 model year 2016 Civics in the U.S. and Canada because the engine can stall while the car is in motion, The Associated Press reports.
According to the notice [PDF] sent to Honda dealers and posted on the CivicX forum, Honda recently notified dealers and federal safety regulators that certain 2-liter Civics may have a piston clip that was not installed or may have been improperly installed into the piston during assembly.
As a result, over the course of engine operation, the piston pin will rub against the cylinder wall causing noise and damage, or in the worst case, the piston pin may detach from one side of the piston and cause an engine failure.
Engine failure may result in the sudden loss of motive power, increasing the possibility of a fire under the hood, according to the notice issued to Honda dealers that reiterated the stop-sale initiative.
Dealers will use a scope to inspect the pin snap rings. Because replacement parts aren’t available yet, Honda expects to notifying customers of the issue in March.
Still, it appears customers are already aware of the issue, submitting complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In one complaint, the owner of a 2016 Civic says they were sold the vehicle the day after Honda issued the stop-sale of the cars.
“I bought one a week before this ‘stop-sale’ and I am apparently going to be forced to drive a vehicle that may have a potentially life threatening defect until they fix it, which will not be until this summer,” another complaint states. “‘Engine failure’ on any roads much less a busy highway is dangerous and an obvious major problem.”
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