2016 Honda Odyssey

My family was recently faced with unnecessary added stress with what appears to be a design flaw in the child safety lock feature on my 2016 Honda Odyssey purchased in 2019 from Ed Napleton Honda in Illinois. I felt the need to bring my concerns to your attention as I’m concerned for not only my son’s safety, but any other families that could face a similar frightening situation. Last weekend, while I was driving the car on the interstate outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, despite having turned the child safety locks on, my seven year old was able to squeeze his finger in between the space of the door and the side panel to reach the child safety lock, flip the position to un- locked, and open the sliding door while I was driving 70mph. I was very fortunate that I was able to pull over and call for safety assistance; however, it goes without saying that this situation could’ve ended much differently. Upon returning home, I took video of my older son being able to recreate the situation by manipulating the child safety lock from inside. I have this video if you want to see it. I purchased what I believed to be a vehicle full of adequate safety features. Now, I’m extremely concerned with my ability (or lack thereof) to safely transport my son at this time knowing this design flaw exists. I urge you to escalate this issue for immediate recall consideration to avoid potentially dire consequences.

My auto lights on dash keep flashing even though the car is off. This only happens every time I set car alarm and after couple minutes it starts to sound and all the dash board lights flicker car turns on it’s own. I open the front trunk and heard noise from fuse box. The Honda service tech said their is an issue in the control unit. I had heard a recall about an issue on 2018-2020 cars but not my year. This has been the second time this issue comes up. First time the battery ran out of power so the Honda technician change battery after I only had the car less than 2 years. Then a new battery was instal. Since first time this happen I thought it would be battery again but was informed that it’s power control unit that’s causing this self control flickering on its own. I am concerned that while on road the car might suddenly stop and not function if this flickering happens.

CAR WAS PARKED IN PARKING LOT. I UNLOCKED SIDE DOORS AND PLACED MY PURSE WITH MY KEY FOB INSIDE AND STRAPPED ONE 4 YEAR OLD INTO ONE CAR SEAT IN PASSENGER MIDDLE SEAT AND THEN ANOTHER 4 YEAR OLD IN DRIVER'S SIDE MIDDLE SEAT CARSEAT. I HIT THE DOOR CLOSE BUTTONS RESPECTIVELY. I THEN WENT TO OPEN THE DRIVER'S SIDE DOOR TO ENTER AND THE DOOR WAS LOCKED. I THEN TRIED THE SLIDER BEHIND ME AND THAT WAS LOCKED, TOO. I WALKED AROUND ALL THE DOORS OF THE VAN AND ALL WERE LOCKED. THE KEY AND THE PRESCHOOLERS WERE ALL IN THE CAR. I COAXED ONE 4 YEAR OLD WHO COULD GET OUT OF HIS CAR SEAT TO CLIMB UP FRONT TO UNLOCK THE DOOR MANUALLY BUT UPON ME WATCHING THE DOOR WOULD NOT UNLOCK FROM THE INSIDE EITHER. HER CHECKED THE PASSENGER DOOR WHICH ALSO WOULD NOT UNLOCK. I ATTEMPTED TO GET HELP IN THE PARKING LOT FOR SOMEONE TO GO INTO THE STORE AND GET HELP BUT NO-ONE CAME. THE 4 YEAR OLD ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLASS WAS FRANTIC AS I KEPT TRYING TO OPEN ALL OF THE DOORS. I FINALLY GOT HIM TO GET IN MY PURSE AND WAS TRYING TO HELP HIM, THROUGH THE GLASS, TO UNLOCK THE PHONE TO CALL 911 WHEN THE CAR ALARM ENACTED AND ALTHOUGH MY CAR DOOR STILL WOULDN'T OPEN THE OTHER 4 YEAR OLD MANAGED TO MANUALLY DISENGAGE THE LOCK ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE SLIDING DOOR TO ENABLE ME TO CLIMB THROUGH AND START THE CAR. NO HELP CAME AND I'M JUST GRATEFUL THEY WERE NOT YOUNGER AND I WASN'T HOTTER OUTSIDE. THE 4 YEAR OLDS WERE TERRIFIED. I SPOKE WITH HONDA SERVICE ON THE PHONE AND THE EMPLOYEE SAID IT DIDN'T SOUND ELECTRICAL OR MECHANICAL AND FELT NO NEED FOR ME TO BRING MY VEHICLE IN.

ONE DAY AFTER CHANGING ENGINE OIL AT HONDA DEALERSHOP LAST WEEK MONDAY, THERE WAS FLICKERING ON DASH BOARD AFTER TURNING THE POWER OFF. THE SYMPTOM WAS GETTING WORSE AND ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY (YESTERDAY), THE CAR HORN HONKING ITSELF. AND YESTERDAY, THE DASH BOARD POWER COULDN'T BE TURNED OFF WHEN I TURNED THE POWER SWITCH OFF (ENGINE OFF LUCKILY) AND THE FLICKERING GOT WORSE LAST NIGHT. SO, I DID UNPLUG THE BATTERY WITH A WORRY OF FULLY DRAINED BATTERY OVERNIGHT. TODAY MORNING, I PLUG THE BATTERY BACK AND GET THE SAME ISSUE, AND LUCKILY IGNITE THE ENGINE AND WENT TO DEALER SHOP AGAIN. THEY DID DIAGNOSIS AND SAID KEYLESS ACCESS CONTROL UNIT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. HERE IS THE SUMMARY OF THE SYMPTOMS: LAST WEEK FLICKERING DASH BOARD WITH FCW SYSTEM FAILED. AND HONKING ITSELF WITH KEEPING FLICKERING. YESTERDAY, I SAW ERROR MESSAGE OF "KEYLESS SYSTEM ERROR". AND I WENT TO DEALERSHOP IN THIS MORNING. HERE IS MY SPECULATION: DURING OIL CHANGE, THERE WAS OIL SPILLING, WHICH CAUSES SHORTING OF CIRCUITRY (OR TECHNICIAN ACCIDENTLY HIT SOME PARTS INSIDE). IT CAUSES FREQUENT ON/OFF OF ELECTRONIC SYSTEM, ENDING UP BREAKING THE KEYLESS ACCESS CONTROL UNIT. THE DEALER DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING, BUT CHARGED ME TO REPLACE THE PARTS SINCE MY CAR IS OUT OF WARRANTY.