Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES, AIR | |||
| 12/13/2010 | 33600 | ||
| The vehicle, a 2009 honda odyssey, has a soft spongy brake pedal that occassionally goes all the way to the floor, resulting in the vehicle rolling past stop signs and red lights while the pedal is fully depressed. the most recent episode occurred in a private development, where the vehicle was traveling at less than 25mph. upon approaching a stop sign, the brake pedal went all the way to the floor and there was uncommanded engine acceleration, resulting in the vehicle traveling well past a stop sign. operator took the vehicle to the local honda dealership and discussed possible brake problems, including reports of faulty vsa modular pumps, and possible accelerator linkage problems. the dealer inspected the vehicle, said the brakes were in good working condition, and that the operation is normal. the operator has owned many cars, including other honda products, and never experienced this condition in the past. | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC | |||
| 04/26/2010 | 15900 | ||
| 2009 honda odyssey, problem started on moday 04/26/10. early morning as i was leaving my place for work, i noticed that the brakes were 'soft'; at the first stop sign, it took the brake to stop the van a longer distance than usual, speed is below 20mph. i was still able to drive to work without further incident that time. then at noon i went out to have lunch, i drove to a nearby place about 10 miles, while i'm driving the vsa off signal lamp came on, driving speed at 35mph, good driving/weather condition, road is well paved; when i got to my destination, i turned off the engine, waited a few minutes, and started the engine again, the vsa signal lamp is now off. no further incident that time again. the next instance that the vsa signal lamp went on while i was driving on my way home, it stayed on for a few minutes, then it went off. i brought the vehicle to the dealer/service shop to have it check, left it there overnight and got it back the next day; i was told that the problem was a faulty steering angle sensor. i'm now suspecting that the recent recalls regarding my07/08 odysseys is also affecting certain my09. | |||
| 06/09/2009 | 2000 | 1 | |
| My brakes went completely out on my new 2009 honda odyssey ex-l while on vacation with only 2,000 miles on the vehicle. on a few occasions over the last month and a half that i have owned my odyssey the vsa light (vehicle stability assistance) has come on for no reason and could not be turned off. normally the vsa is on all times but the light does not come on unless the conditions are bad. (ice, snow, rain, rocks) when this light has come on i have been traveling at approx. 50mph, not braking, and the conditions were sunny and dry. then the horrible day, with my 5 year old in the back seat i was turning left at a light at approx. 20-25 mph when i pushed down my brake and heard a grinding sound and no brakes. i began pumping the brakes, and the pedal went to the floor. after a few seconds (maybe 5) the brakes engaged. i immediately pulled over and looked under the car. nothing, and nothing at the intersection where i had just turned. the local dealership had to call honda engineering which said that there must be an issue with the vsa system (that this same issue has happened to other owners) and all they needed to do was unplug the vsa it, wait a few seconds and then plug it back in. i will be returning to ohio from hilton head in a few days which will require driving through some very steep mountains with my 5 year old and 1 year old. i don't feel confident in their diagnoses. honda will not issue a loaner for me to drive home and then tow my vehicle 600 miles to me. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||
| 06/04/2010 | 19500 | ||
| First time noticed soft brakes then pedal went down almost to the floor which ended up making girding noise. this now has occurred many times over especially going down hill of any grade low or high. i have complained to my local honda dealer but no action but to say they have heard of others complaints but can't re-duplicate nor has fix for that. i went to the honda forum and there were many complaints regards to these soft brakes and similar issues. in that forum many mechanically minds have concluded that odyssey uses same small brakes/calipers as smaller suv- cvr. comparing that these are just too under powered brakes for our heavy minivan. some have found easy solution by replacing them with honda passport's brakes/rotors/calipers to satisfaction. i believe this is a big safety issue. they know about it on same model on yr 07 & 08. i have so far had to pay dealer for brake fluid bleed & flush(it was dirty and very dark) at 27k mi., rotor resurface for both front and rear, brake pads replace at 42k mi. i'm also previous owner of 2001 odyssey and though experienced auto tranny issue, never had brake problem nor many services related to brakes. please investigate this model and hopefully we don't have to keep paying or worst have accident some where down the road because of this under powered brakes. | |||
| 04/10/2012 | 92000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2009 honda odyssey. the contact stated that the brakes felt abnormally spongy when depressed. while stopped at a traffic stop on an incline, the contact depressed the brakes when the brakes failed and caused the contact to crash into another vehicle. there were no injuries and the police were not contacted. one week prior to the crash, the vehicle was taken to the dealer for replacement of the brake pads and the resurfacing of the rotors. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 92,000. kmj | |||
| 06/04/2010 | 19500 | ||
| First time noticed soft brakes then pedal went down almost to the floor which ended up making girding noise. this now has occurred many times over especially going down hill of any grade low or high. i have complained to my local honda dealer but no action but to say they have heard of others complaints but can't re-duplicate nor has fix for that. i went to the honda forum and there were many complaints regards to these soft brakes and similar issues. in that forum many mechanically minds have concluded that odyssey uses same small brakes/calipers as smaller suv- cvr. comparing that these are just too under powered brakes for our heavy minivan. some have found easy solution by replacing them with honda passport's brakes/rotors/calipers to satisfaction. i believe this is a big safety issue. they know about it on same model on yr 07 & 08. i have so far had to pay dealer for brake fluid bleed & flush(it was dirty and very dark) at 27k mi., rotor resurface for both front and rear, brake pads replace at 42k mi. i'm also previous owner of 2001 odyssey and though experienced auto tranny issue, never had brake problem nor many services related to brakes. please investigate this model and hopefully we don't have to keep paying or worst have accident some where down the road because of this under powered brakes. | |||
| 04/10/2012 | 92000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2009 honda odyssey. the contact stated the brake was very spongy. while stopped at the light on an incline with the brake being depressed they disengaged themselves causing the vehicle to crash into another vehicle. both vehicle has bumper damages and no one was injured. the weather was good. both vehicle was drivable and the police was not contacted. the insurance company was notified. a week prior to the accident the vehicle was taken to the dealer for maintenance on the brakes, they resurface the rotors and replace the brake pads. the vehicle will be taken back to the dealer for inspection. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was 92,000. mw | |||
| 08/15/2011 | |||
| Based on my research, there are many other complaints by honda owners of premature brake rotor wear and/or warping. this causes the steering wheel to shimmy or vibrate when applying breaks during high speeds especially on the freeway. i bought my odyssey brand new and my dealer said i only have 20% wear on my brake pads. but the rotor apparently requires resurfacing or replacement to fix the vibration. for the rotor to fail at this early stage of wear and tear process is totally unacceptable. it is my belief that honda puts sub-standard brake rotor components intentionally to save money. i'm not sure of the potential safety concern of this practice but life is precious enough not to take any chances. the braking system to me is the most crucial safety component of any vehicle. i've owned many cars before and replacing the rotor before the break pads with only 30k miles is totally something new to me. i was shock to learn how much results i got by searching honda steering wheel vibration brake rotors) on the internet. a lot of people are angry about it but nothing has been done to bring this up with honda formally. their customer service has a revolving door policy that this is just part of the normal wear and tear and completely not covered under their warranty. this is totally unacceptable! | |||
| 01/03/2011 | 15000 | ||
| We have an ongoing issue with violent brake vibration at highway speeds. earlier this year when the van had approx. 15,000 miles we started experiancing the vibration. when we brought it to the dealer around 18,000 miles and pointed the problem out and they said the rotors were warped and we need to have them turned and we did. well here we are at 23,000 miles and the brake vibration is back with a vengence. we are headed to the dealership this week but i already know what they are going to tell me - to turn the rotors. well, i have been driving all makes of cars for over 30 years and i have never needed rotors turned at such low mileages and absolutly never had them turned twice withing 5000 miles!! in the day, the only reason to turn rotors was to remove the grooves created by the rivits that held the brake pads to the rotor. this stock rotor is clearly inferior in design (lack of cooling or poor quality metals) and needs to be addressed by honda before someone gets hurt. there are several owners of these vehicles comlaining about the same issue on the net. | |||
| 05/15/2009 | 1000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2009 honda odyssey. the contact stated that when depressing the brakes she would feel a vibration sensation. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and they advised her that the rotors had failed and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired for the rotors. approximately 8,000 miles later she was experiencing the vibration failure again. the manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. the vehicle has not been repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 1,000. tb | |||
| 06/25/2011 | 26000 | ||
| Tl. the contact owns a 2009 honda odyssey. the contact stated the brakes begin to ware at very low mileage. the contact grow concern when the brakes started to grind so the contact took the vehicle to the dealer. the dealer stated they could not find a problem with the vehicle. two years later the brakes and rotors needs to be replaced. the contact had the brakes and rotors replaced but stated the dealer ignored the first warning. the failure mileage was 26,000. jo | |||
| 07/07/2009 | 21700 | ||
| Driving on highway felt strong vibration on the stearing wheel when stepping on brakes at 50 mph. the vibrations is felt stronger at 50 mph or above. it causing a high vibration on the stearing wheel. no crashes at this time. took vehicle to the dealer because is on warranty, dealer informed defective rotors and rotors were uneven and need resurface, rotors are covered by warranty for just 10kmiles, vehicle has 20k miles, dealer blames bad rotos on bad driving. i belive they are wrong i have two other honda and i have no problems with rotors at that early stage of driving mileage. | |||
| 12/15/2009 | 5000 | ||
| Tl*the contact owns a 2009 honda odyssey. the contact stated that the brake pedal went down so far that it touched the accelerator pedal. the vehicle was taken to two authorized dealerships where the contact was informed that they could find nothing wrong with the vehicle. the failure mileage was approximately 5,000. the current mileage was approximately 10,600. | |||
| 07/15/2009 | 3000 | 2 | |
| 2009 honda odyssey lx. 2 times i was stopping and pushed the brake and accelerator at same time. motor was racing and abs was coming on - very frightening as i did not know what the problem was and motor is very powerful. almost rolled into busy 55 mph intersection first time and almost hit basketball post in driveway second time. have never had this problem with a vehicle and have been driving for over 30 years. plain sneakers were being worn - not winter boots. seems to be little difference in height or location of brake pedal with respect to gas pedal. *tw | |||
| 09/18/2009 | 35000 | 1 | |
| Drive over 65 mph, steering vibration brake over 40mph, noise. *tr | |||