Honda has been ignoring complaints about a defective engine starter, according to the plaintiff in a recent class action lawsuit.
Plaintiff Joel Merkin says the Honda engine starter in certain recent model years of Honda Accords and Crosstours is defective in a way that causes the starter and battery to fail. Once that happens, the vehicle’s engine will not start, potentially leaving drivers and passengers stranded, Merkin claims.
The engine starter is an electric motor that gets the car’s engine spinning when the driver turns the ignition key, until the engine starts and keeps running on its own.
Merkin claims the defendants have known about this Honda engine starter defect for at least four years. Owners have been filing complaints with Honda about the alleged defect, and the company itself has published internal technical bulletins addressing the problem, he claims.
According to this Honda engine starter class action lawsuit, Honda has been refusing owner requests to remedy the engine starter defect under the affected vehicles’ warranties. Merkin says Honda has dismissed warranty claims for this defect by attributing the problems to wear, owner misuse, improper maintenance or lack of maintenance.
When Honda has bothered to fix the defect, Merkin alleges, the company has only replaced the Honda engine starter with a similarly defective starter.
Despite Honda’s alleged knowledge of the defect and the asserted coverage under the manufacturer’s warranty, Merkin says the company has not “recalled the Class Vehicles to repair the Starter Defect, offered its customers a suitable repair or replacement free of charge, or offered to reimburse its customers who have incurred out of pocket expenses to repair the defect.”
Merkin himself is the owner of a pre-owned 2013 Honda Accord. He says that in May 2016, his Accord would fail to start about once a week. The problem got progressively worse, he says, until the vehicle would fail to start five to six times per day.
A local Honda dealer told Merkin the car was no longer under warranty. Merkin had the problem fixed at an out-of- pocket cost of about $200, he claims.
Merkin is proposing to represent a statewide plaintiff Class consisting of all persons in New Jersey who are current or former owners of one of the listed vehicles equipped with the allegedly defective Honda engine starter. He lists these vehicles as the Honda Accord from model years 2013 to 2015 and the Honda Crosstour from model years 2013 to 2015.
He is asking the court to certify his proposed Class and appoint him as Class representative. He seeks a court order requiring Honda to repair, recall or replace the Honda engine starter in affected vehicles. He also seeks an award of damages with pre- and post-judgment interest and reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.
Merkin’s attorneys are Matthew D. Schelkopf, Joseph G. Sauder and Joseph B. Kenney of McCune Wright Arevalo LLP.
The Honda Engine Starter Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Joel Merkin v. Honda North America Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-03625, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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454 thoughts onHonda Class Action Says Engine Starter Defect Merits Warranty Coverage
Same issue
2013 Honda Accord, same issue with the starter.
add me to the law suit. i have a 2014 Honda accord lx. I have to try 5-8 times to start my car.
Hi my name is Ruth, we own a 2017 Honda Civic, I’m still paying for it. My Honda it’s only 5 yrs old and we have problems with the starter. I just called Honda from Whittier spoke to Luigi, he told it’s a 5 year old car and they won’t fix it. Add me to your law suit.
Same issue with my wife’s 2015 Honda Accord LX. Add me to your list for lawsuit if they ain’t fixing it for free!
I have a 2015 honda accord ex same problem with my starter replaced brand new went to check it out it passed the test but wont turn my car on only last a week.. ADD ME TO THE LIST
I have owned a 2013 Honda Accord coupe V6 EX L and had this issue when still under 5yr warranty with dealership on the certified used purchase in 2014/2015. I took my car to the dealership where they diagnosed and changed my starter helping the issue for a few months and then car would make the same grinding noise when attempting to start every so often for the next year. Dealership could not replicate again saying that battery was bad and after changing battery several times over the years for continued grinding occasionally and no “code” dictating starter issues until recently. Had starter replaced For the second time again by a Honda certified mechanic even though out of warranty, to have worsening and continued grinding 2 days later with ANOTHER battery change after only a year. Now it can take up to 6-10 tries intermittently to get my car to start. Frustrating and expensive to continue to fix the same issue the dealership continued to overlook saying either they couldn’t replicate noise after keeping car for up to a week at 1 point or changing batteries. PLEASE ADD ME TO CLASS ACTION SUIT!!!
Please add me to the lawsuit.
I have a 2015 Honda Accord I bought new.
At 47,326 miles it required a new starter assembly after replacing the battery 3 times.
The car has needed the throttle body cleaned for stalling out twice with multiple error code- and will likely need replacing.
It stalled right after exiting the highway- had it happened on the 5 I would have been rear ended and likely killed by large trucks.
At about 20,000 miles the struts needed replacement.
It’s had a host of other issues- it’s a piece of junk. I left Toyota to get a Honda- what a mistake.
I’m on the 3rd set of tires.
It only has 65,500 miles and has new issues all the time.
I will never buy another Honda
Please add me to the lawsuit.
I have a 2013 Honda Accord Coupe and starter has been failing for a month. Took it in to Honda today and they wanted $850 for labor and parts to fix it. The car has fewer than 76000 miles so I challenged them to cover it under 80k warranty. The Honda rep happened to be here and hopefully they will fix it and only charge me a deductible even though my deductible is $0. Very confusing and frustrating.
I am having the same problem with my 2012 Accord, I’ve replaced the battery three times and it’s starting to do the same thing chatters a little bit and after about three times it will start, then no trouble for a few days then it starts up not wanting to turn over without additional tries, don’t know if I can be included in the lawsuit but would like to.