The Honda Odyssey is one of the finest midsize vans available today and it offers a lot more for its $28,675 price tag. The fact that it’s a Honda suggests it to be reliable and the sales of almost 129,000 vans further validate the point. The only major issue the vehicle has had is an engine misfire and performance lag that was caused due to a worn-out piston. Apart from that, the Odyssey has a total of 164 complaints out of which, the majority of it was resolved through the 5 recalls that the vehicle underwent. Honda shares the market with rivals like the Nissan Quest, the Chrysler Town & Country, and the Toyota Sienna. Let’s analyze the issues in detail to understand the van better.
User complaints and problems
Electrical Problems
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Key fob – Users found the key intermittently failing to unlock the car. The key fob battery was found to be in good condition and it was finally confirmed that the kay had deprogrammed itself. The dealers had to reprogramme both the master and a spare key for it to be able to send signals to the car.
Mechanical Problems
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Engine – The car was said to sputter and noise while the engine was said to hesitate when depressing the accelerator. An error code was displayed and the dealers replaced the piston rings on cylinders 1 and 3 while the spark plugs for 1 and 4 were also replaced. The engine was said to malfunction even post the repair and the dealers found the same code which pointed to a misfire in the first cylinder. The spark plugs were inspected and they showed evidence of fouled oil. This time the repair was done under the extended warranty which was a result of a class action settlement.
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Engine cooling – The engine temperature was said to rise very often and this was noticed by many users. However, the diagnosis showed no issues with the engine and was found that it burns oil at a faster pace.
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Brakes – The heat dissipation on the brake rotors is poor and leads the rotors to overheat way too much. Drivers reported that the car would shake while applying the brakes and dealers found the brake rotors to have warped.
Safety Problems
- Seatbelt – The child-operated button is placed too close to the automatic passenger door. There were multiple instances where the door button was clicked while reaching for the belt and this can even crush the kid’s hand if not careful.
2013 Honda Odyssey recalls
|
S. No. |
Date |
NHTSA ID |
Issues Noticed |
Additional Remarks |
Remedy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
17 November 2017 |
17V725000 |
Second-row seats may tip forward when braking. |
The second-row outboard seats can slide sideways to one of two positions. If the seat is placed between either of the positions when attaching the seats to the vehicle floor, they will not latch properly to the striker, allowing the seat to tip over while barking. |
Dealers will install brackets for the second-row outboard floor strikers. |
|
2. |
27th December 2016 |
16V933000 |
Second-row outboard seats may stay unlocked. |
The second-row release lever for the rear seat access may stay unlocked, allowing the seats to move freely. |
Additional sprigs and brackets will be installed on both the second-row outboard seats. |
|
3. |
17th August 2013 |
13V382000 |
Premature engine piston wear. |
Worn pistons may suddenly wear, causing the car to stall and increase the risk of a collision. |
The engine short block will be replaced. |
|
4. |
15th April 2013 |
13V143000 |
Brae shift interlock. |
The brake shift interlock blocking mechanism may become slow and allow the gear selector to move without depressing the brakes, causing the vehicle to roll away. |
Update brake shift locking mechanism will be installed. |
|
5. |
18th January 2013 |
13V016000 |
Driver’s airbag module may be mission rivets. |
Absence of a single rivet is enough to alter the performance of the driver’s airbag during deployment. |
The airbag module will be inspected and replaced if necessary. |
Should you buy the 2013 Honda Odyssey?
There really isn’t a doubt about whether the 2013 Honda Odyssey is reliable or not. Fixing the piston issue through a recall solved the major problem with the van but Honda chose to address all the other issues that they felt would affect the user’s convenience and safety. The only concern with the van that does not have a fix is its high oil consumption and that could make a few buyers pick other options. However, the Honda Odyssey has one of the best drive characteristics and this is the only van that behaves more like a sedan when compared to its rivals, eliminating the problem of getting adapted to this format for someone moving to vans for the first time. We highly recommend the Honda in this segment and it also happens to be one of the easiest vehicles to maintain out of the lot.
