2026 Honda Odyssey

The blind-spot monitoring system on our 2026 Honda Odyssey Elite fails to operate properly in hot weather. When ambient temperatures are high, the system does not detect or alert to vehicles in the adjacent blind-spot areas, and an error message appears stating “blind spot detection unavailable.” This failure increases the risk of collisions during lane changes or merges because the driver does not receive the expected visual or audible warnings of vehicles in the blind spots, potentially endangering the occupants of this vehicle and other road users.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This is a report on a design flaw- not a failed component- in the 2026 Honda Odyssey's "smart" computer automated safety features, including automatic braking, lane departure, and forward collision warning systems. There have been two types of incidents. These incidents have been repeated on this vehicle dozens of times in our first year of ownership. These incidents are potentially very dangerous because they involve erroneous automatic braking at interstate highway speeds. Unexpected erroneous braking at interstate speeds is a good way to cause a rear-end collision or loss of control. 1. Automatic emergency braking due to erroneous lane departure detection. On interstates in Arizona at highway speeds of 65 MPH, the vehicle's lane departure detection system throws erroneous warnings when it sees non-lane markings on the roadway, such as tar sealant strips or seams between pavement sections. This has resulted more than once in the vehicle erroneously applying emergency automated braking to slow the vehicle. This happens even when lane assist and adaptive cruise control are turned off by the driver. 2. Erroneous automated braking while overtaking another vehicle. On interstates in Arizona at highway speeds of 65 MPH, while passing in the left lane a vehicle that is moving much slower in the right lane (e.g. semi truck climbing a hill at 40 MPH), while using adaptive cruise control, automated braking is applied erroneously when there is no risk of a forward collision. The automated braking tends to kick in far earlier than a human driver would brake, and when there is no vehicle in the lane ahead, so it is unexpected and dangerous. This only happens while adaptive cruise control is activated by the driver.

The vehicle’s Blind Spot Warning system intermittently fails during normal operation. The warning message “Blind spot information system problem. See your dealer.” appears after driving or after restarting the vehicle. The system may function initially (for example, when leaving a garage), but then disables itself during driving or after the vehicle is parked and restarted. The issue first occurred within the first week of ownership and has persisted and become more frequent over time. The vehicle currently has approximately 4,500 miles. This failure affects a driver assistance safety feature intended to warn of vehicles in adjacent lanes that may not be visible to the driver. The malfunction creates a safety risk because the system becomes unavailable unpredictably during normal driving conditions. The failure is intermittent and cannot be consistently reproduced at a service appointment. The vehicle has been presented for service; however, the condition could not be diagnosed because the warning was not active at the time of inspection. The dealer advised that the issue could not be evaluated without the warning present. Proposed options included leaving the vehicle for an extended period to attempt to reproduce the intermittent condition, or returning when the warning is active. Due to the unpredictable and intermittent nature of the failure, this approach has not resulted in a diagnosis or repair. The failure remains unresolved. The system failure occurs during routine commuting and affects the ability to safely monitor adjacent lanes when changing lanes.

The contact owns a 2026 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions at various speeds, the blind spot monitor became inoperable with the message "Blind Spot Information Systems Failure - See Dealer" displayed. The contact also stated that while in the driver assist mode, the message "System Could not be Retrieved - Please try Again" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was determined that a systems update was needed but was not currently available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a complaint was filed. The failure mileage was 6.