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A group of consumers says that Honda CR-V and Accord vehicles are affected by a parasitic draining defect that causes electrical components to draw down the battery – even when the car is turned off.
Lead plaintiffs Andre Cruz, Mitchell Bryon Pazanki, Dayane Tessinari, and Fernanda Nunes Ferreira lodged a nationwide class action lawsuit in Florida federal court Tuesday. They say that Honda knew of the parasitic draining defect that leaves owners of 2017-2019 CR-Vs and 2016-2019 Accords with unexpectedly dead batteries.
Each of the plaintiffs claim that the batteries in their Honda Accords or CR-Vs failed prematurely due to the alleged battery defect.
Parasitic draining allegedly occurs when electrical components in a vehicle fail to shut down once the vehicle is parked and turned off, which in turn allows the components to continue consuming power from the battery. The vehicle safety defect can leave motorists stranded, potentially in dangerous situations, say the plaintiffs who also point out that the problem can affect emergency hazard lights and headlights.
The plaintiffs say that even replacing the battery does not cure the defect.
“Repeated draining of a vehicle’s battery progressively weakens a battery until ultimately the battery fails and needs to be replaced,” explains the class action lawsuit. “Even prior to complete failure of a battery, excessive draining can cause electrical components of the vehicle such as hazard lights, headlights, and taillights to fail without warning, including when the vehicle is being driven.”
The class action lawsuit contends that car owners should expect their batteries to last approximately six years or more. The parasitic draining defect allegedly affecting Honda Accord and CR-V vehicles results in a much shorter battery life.
The plaintiffs say that they and other consumers would not have purchased or paid as much for their Honda Accord or CR-V vehicles had they known about the battery defect. They allege that the carmaker knew of the parasitic draining defect, but hid the problem from the public.
Indeed, Honda was hit with a parasitic draining defect class action lawsuit lodged in Iowa federal court in May of this year.
The plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit allege that Honda touts the CR-V and Accord as safe and reliable vehicles. In total, the carmaker has sold and leased millions of these vehicles that allegedly suffer from the parasitic drain defect, they say.
In addition to the plaintiffs’ experiences, the class action lawsuit points out consumer complaints lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over Honda CR-V and Accord batteries. The plaintiffs accuse Honda of violating state consumer protection laws and federal warranty laws, as well as fraud and unjust enrichment, by knowingly selling cars with the parasitic draining defect.
The plaintiffs seek to represent Honda CR-V and Accord owners and lessees nationwide, along with a Florida subclass.
The class action lawsuit wants to hold Honda responsible for the expenses suffered by Accord and CR-V owners, along with statutory and civil penalties, and attorney and court fees.
Do you own a Honda CR-V or Accord? Have you had issues with the battery? Tell us about it in the comment section below!
The lead plaintiffs are represented by Mark. J. Dearman and Eric S. Dwoskin of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, and Marc A. Wites of the Wites Law Firm.
The Honda CR-V, Accord Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Cruz, et al. v. American Honda Motor Company, Inc., Case No. 0:21-cv-61130-XXXX in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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190 thoughts onHonda CR-V, Accord Parasitic Draining Defect Alleged In Class Action Lawsuit Over Batteries
Honda crv 2018, purchased certified from a dealer in 2020. As of September 2022, under 33K miles and battery died. Need to use jump start everytime. Going to dealer tomorrow.
Is there any recourse for CR-V owners who are having this issue? I have a 2017 and am on my third battery. I cannot even get into my car today.
We bought a 2021 Honda CR-V, in July 2021. We didn’t know about these battery issues or we would have bought another Toyota or a Subaru. We were on a vacation from June 6-July 6. We tried to start the car a few days later and the battery was dead!!!! I was so disgusted! A 40K$ car with 1600 miles and it wouldn’t start!!! We had a 19 year old Old Bravada and 12 year old Toyota Prius we left in an airport parking lot for a month in Michigan winters, and both turned right over!!! Still not sure if we will keep Ruby or sell it.
I have 2017 Honda CR-V. I’ve had to replace battery twice in 5 years!
I also have a Honda 2017 CRV. I replaced my batter for the second time in 5 years!
Changed battery on both our 2016 Honda Accord and 2020 Honda Civic multiple times. There was one instance when we had driven our Civic for a few hours, stopped at a gas station – and couldn’t get the car to go on reverse – battery had died.
Our 2016 CRV needed a jump start 3 times. We still keep a jumper battery in the trunk. We bought a new battery but put the Honda battery in our 2002 Prius because we knew it was still good. Our CRV problem is intermittently low charging voltage from the alternator. When low, the alternator puts out about 12.3 volts and our new good battery usually has a rest voltage of only 12.25 so our problem is still there. The alternator puts out a good and healthy 14.3 volts when you want to troubleshoot, and the battery quickly recharges to a normal 12.5 volts. Guess I will have to monitor battery voltage from the cab while driving to see if there is any operational mode that causes the intermittent low voltage. Strange Honda engineers have not nailed the issue if so widespread. Failing computers would be a costly recall.
I bought a Honda Accord 2017 and I’ve had a replace the battery every six months to a year. I’ve had to get jumped by strangers and it’s on record because I work at a school as a teacher where I needed a battery jump at least three times a week. I now carry with me an electrical charger cable box for the battery because I never know where I’m going to get stuck…one time I got stuck on the freeway with my daughter and it was very dangerous. I have had dead battery in parking lots unknown neighborhoods… you name it.When I took it to Honda while I was still under the 36 month warranty they said it was just a bad battery and they had a chance to fix it and they did not. I took that complaint to Honda and they never did anything. My AC and phone hook up also stopped working as well when the battery started having problems. I bought the car in Az and started having battery issues the first six months and it has not stopped. It is embarrassing that I have to carry around a mini batter cable charger to start my car 5 times a day until I replace the battery again this year.
I bought a used 2017 Honda CR-V with less than 31,000 miles in December 2020. In March 2022 the car alarm went off one day – I could not use my key fob to stop it and eventually it shut off, later realizing it only shut off because the battery died. We tried jumping the car the next day, but it would not turn over – only electronics would come on. Then we realized we could not turn the electronics off unless unplugging the battery. The electronics were running through all of the system warnings/notifications (this has happened 2 times in the past with the warning indicators, and the car not starting, but we could always jump the car to get it started. I got a new battery after the 2nd time, thinking that would solve it). After we couldn’t get the car started, we again tried replacing the less than 6 month old battery that was still under warranty. The company at first did not want to honor the warranty because the battery looked liked it had been neglected (I used the car for commuting less than 25 miles round trip to work every day, but it was completely drained). Although we ended up getting the battery replaced, the car still would not start. We then had it towed to a Honda service center. By this time I found articles on the issue, the class action lawsuit in California, and a video of another guy showing the exact same issue. I brought this info to the Honda rep and nothing was referenced. Instead, they tried replacing the start/stop button first – that did nothing, then they determined it needed a new BCM. All of which were quoted to be $800+. The part was on back order and my car sat at the service center for a month. Honda would not supply me with a temporary vehicle. I had to move out of state after that month and towed my car from Florida to North Carolina. Now 4 months later I still can’t find that part, the local Honda dealership says it’s still on back order, and I haven’t been able to use my car since. I am paying $349 each month for a car I cannot use, plus wasted insurance costs, plus alternative commute costs, plus loss of work due to lack of transportation, and plus the costs of towing my car both locally, and 9 hours for a planned move. Honda has done nothing to rectify or bring ease to this known issue. I believe the issues with my car qualifies me to be part of the plaintiffs class in the class action lawsuit. How do I apply to be a part of the class?
I have the same issue with a 2016 crv. I’m going to the dealer tomorrow. It has to be started every 12 hrs.
I’ll never buy another Honda product. I’ve had 2 motorcycles with electric issues now this. I wanted the wife to buy a Toyota. We have had 4 with Zero issues.
Currently at the Honda dealership now waiting…because I’ve had to jump start the battery multiple times. This is a 2018 CRV, Oct would have been 4 years of battery life but not even that. I drive my car the average amount with not too long commutes to work. There’s just no reason for my battery to be drained. None. Luckily my Dad gave me the amazing Christmas gift years ago of an automatic jumper!
Luckily I was at home when all of this happened, but I still panicked because every type of system error popped up on the car. I had just been to the dealership for needed tire change in May… and now I’m back in June. Honda owes us compensation for this. The amount of people having the same issue is alarming! I’ll be making noise and saving all my receipts. Good luck everyone! And be safe!