Yahoo Autos Feds Investigating 1.4 Million Hondas for Possible Engine Failure
One year ago, Honda recalled just under 250,000 of its vehicles using its 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 in the United States because of an engine crankshaft manufacturing defect that could cause connecting rod bearing failure. On November 11, however, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it's opening a probe into 1.4 million more Hondas and Acuras that could be susceptible to the same problem.
The vehicles under investigation include the 2016–2020 Acura MDX, 2018–2020 Acura TLX, 2016–2020 Honda Pilot, 2017–2019 Honda Ridgeline and 2018–2020 Honda Odyssey. NHTSA says it’s received a total of 173 reports of failing connecting rod bearings in the population of vehicles listed above, none of which were included in the original recall.
The probe will hope to “assess the severity of the alleged defect” in those vehicles not included in the original recall of 248,999 cars. As for that original recall, the documents say its cause is due to improper settings of equipment used to manufacture the crankshaft. Honda says “the crank pin was improperly ground, resulting in crank pins with a crown or convex shape that are out of specification.”
The cars originally included in the recall were to be inspected, and the engines either repaired or replaced depending on their condition. Of course, the new components have properly ground crank pins, theoretically ensuring the problem is solved. NHTSA doesn’t note any crashes or injuries relating to this issue, but there have been reports one fire and 1,450 warranty claims.
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