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Honda Transmission Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision that excluded expert testimony from a decision in Honda’s favor.
- Why: The judge says the decision was “erroneous.”
- Where: The reversal occurred United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has reversed a decision in favor of Honda in a lawsuit alleging that the automaker sold defective transmissions in its vehicles.
The case is now remanded back to the district court.
The 9th Circuit says the lower court abused its discretion by excluding expert testimony from an economist and statistician. It said survey analysis because it lacked “substantive probity,” but that decision was erroneous, the panel says.
“While the district court must act as a gatekeeper to exclude junk science that does not meet reliability standards, the test [according to precedent] is not the correctness of the expert’s conclusions, but the soundness of his methodology,” the panel says.
Class Action Claims Honda Odyssey Vehicles Would Shake, Shudder When Accelerated Into Higher Gears
The appellants sued American Honda Motor Co., Inc. on behalf of a putative class alleging a transmission defect in certain Honda Odyssey minivan models. They claimed transmissions in the Honda Odyssey, model years 2011 to 2016, were subject to severe shaking and shuddering when the vehicle would accelerate into second, third and fourth gear, according to Law 360. As a result, drivers noticed that when they pushed on the gas pedal, the vehicle would hesitate before accelerating. This caused an increased likelihood of a crash.
The expert testimony, issued in 2019, says the Odysseys become “less desirable” to consumers when the transmission defect is disclosed, Law 360 reports. It estimated a median economic loss per driver of about $3,041. Assuming Honda sold about 475,000 of these vehicles with the defect, the total classwide damages are more than $1.6 billion.
Honda is also awaiting final approval to a $33 million Honda class action settlement that will resolve claims that Honda sold vehicles with defective infotainment systems.
Do you agree with the appeals court’s decision? Let us know in the comments!
The drivers were represented by Gary E. Mason of Mason Lietz and Klinger LLP, Peretz Bronstein and Shimon Yiftach of Bronstein Gewirtz & Grossman and Jeffrey L. Osterwise and Lawrence Deutsch of Berger and Montague PC.
Honda was represented by Livia M. Kiser, Anne M. Voigts and Michael B. Shortnacy of King & Spalding LLP.
The Honda Defective Transmission Class Action Lawsuit is Dennis MacDougall, et al. v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Case No. 20-56060, in the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
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34 thoughts onHonda Defective Transmission Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward After Appeals Court Reverses Decision
i have a honda with jerking transmission issues. Did i need to register for the lawsuit ?
2016 Honda Pilot shudders and jerking when excelerating
I have the Honda Odyssey 2017, and have had nothing but breakdowns, harassment, and troubles since I purchased it about two years ago! My transmission went the first week I had the car, the man who sold it to me saw me stranded at the honda repair center and runs out in a hurry when I told him why I’m there. I told them I didn’t want to keep the car and they apologized. I broke down a second time with transmission issues after the flush. Im then told I could have turned the car in back when I was at the service center?!? Then I had more breakdowns on the road requiring roadside assistance! Engine died, replaced battery, died again in a bad town. Honda looks at my car, keeps it for a week, only to find out the man repairing my car took it home overnight an hour away from the service center for personal use to test drive it?!? I’m then told to come down and management will get me out of the car, only to find out it was them trying to run my credit for a new car. That’s not helping me at all! The manager yells and screams at me saying I treat my boyfriend like crap and I need to be nice to him bc he has bone cancer. I get pulled into a room with financial dept, they apologize and try to get me a good deal, but I have a high interest rate and the car barely has payments on it to help me. They tell me “I will get you a good deal if you go give the manager hugs and kisses” ….what?!?!??! I report this all to Honda, and they basically tell me they are a private Honda and cannot do investigations and close my case. My car is now jumping again at low speeds, and I need to turn the car off to stop the jerking at 20mph. What can I do?!?!?!?
I have a 2016 Honda Odyssey with 65,000 miles on it. The transmission started having issues at 60,000 and getting worse. Jerking, shaking, hesitation.
I have the same transmission jerking problem for my 2017 Honda Pilot
2018 Honda Pilot Elite. While driving down the freeway it would slip out of gear and have almost been rear ended a couple times. Then it became undrivable and a code said bad transmission fluid pressure sensor switch. Honda says they can’t fix that and I need a new transmission! They don’t rebuild they said…. I’m so angry and confused why this would be happening. It actually shifted fine in normal drive mode but sport mode had some rough shifting so I stopped using sport mode. Advice please
2016 Honda Civic. CVT automatic transmission left me stranded on Friday. The car slowly slipped out of gear as if in neutral with no forward motion
I have a 2016 Odyssey with 94k miles. Last month while driving on the expressway my car made a sound I knew wasn’t right, 2 miles later the flashing light, 2miles after that traffic came to a stop, I thought my van was going to die right there in rush hour traffic. I was able to get off at the next exit and choke my way to a parking lot. I was towed. Honda dealer said nothing came up on the read out of what was wrong. $370 later they flushed something. No mention of the possible piston/oil issue. 3 weeks later the same thing. We sputtered our way back to the dealer to finally be told $3900 will put a big expensive band aid on the issue. I purchased this van used. No mention of the recall, the issue, get it in before X miles…Now I have a van I don’t feel comfortable driving and I have only driven it 50k miles since I’ve bought it.
We had the shudder issue as well several months after purchasing the van. We had a transmission flush back then.
We got rid of our older van (a Honda) for something more reliable. We didn’t want to have to continue to pay to fix the problems.
What do we do now?
I took my 2017 Honda Pilot in to check to see if something was wrong with my transmission last year. Here it is a year later and my transmission went out. When I was told 1 year old all I needed was my fluid changed. I am not a happy camper. My car is stuck out of state. Now I have to pay extra money to get it fixed and pick it up.
2017 honda pilot shifts erratically. When in cruise control, I brake and it still want to accelerate till it hit the brake for the second time. Please add me.