2018 Honda Odyssey
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 15% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 3.6%.
First year of a new generation. The Honda Odyssey was redesigned for 2018. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 957 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 242 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 16 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rod — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the other years of this generation (6.8×). Owners wrote it as: rod, bearing, rod bearing, connecting.
- acceleration — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: acceleration, delay.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- cruise control — 10% of complaints, 3× usual
- departure — 9% of complaints, 3× usual
- assist — 9% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
Upon starting the vehicle we get the following warning lights: Road Departure Mitigation System Problem Blind Spot Info System Problem Adaptive Cruise Control Problem Lane Keeping Assist Problem Transmission System Problem Collision Mitigation System Problem T…
When driving the vehicle on September 8, 2023 LKAS (lane keeping assist problem), collision mitigation system problem, road departure mitigation system problem, blind spot info system problem, auto high beam problem and ACC (adaptive cruise control problem) ca…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V299000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 18V777000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 18V795000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 19V213000 SERVICE BRAKES, AIR Fixed free of charge.
- 17V397000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V437000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 20V439000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 20V066000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 16. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Honda Odyssey was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2018 Honda Odyssey? What happened to yours?
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