Honda Recalls More Than 52,000 Minivans to Fix Sliding Seats

By Chris Chase

Jan 3, 2017

Summary

A spring fix

Honda is voluntarily recalling rafts of Odyssey minivans from model years 2011 through 2016 to fix second-row seats that may not lock in place and could slide unexpectedly while the car is in motion.

At issue is the mechanism that allows the outboard second-row seats to tilt and slide to ease access to the third row. The locking mechanism designed to hold the seat in place may not engage when the seat is returned to its normal position. Honda says the flaw was discovered after dealers fixed the problem in numerous vans still under warranty, and that the flaw has not caused any crashes or injuries.

Dealers will install extra springs and brackets to the locking mechanism to ensure it locks into place, but those parts won't be available until the spring, so until then Honda recommends Odyssey owners manually lock the seat in place every time it is moved, a task it says is easy to do by "pushing down on the horizontal position adjustment bar."

Honda will mail recall notices to Odyssey owners in February 2017, and will send an additional notification once parts are available to fix the vans.

Meet the Author

As a child, Chris spent most of his time playing with toy cars in his parents’ basement or making car sounds while riding his bicycle. Now he's an award-winning Algonquin College Journalism grad who has been playing with real cars that make their own noises since the early 2000s.