Jeremy Bordelon of Chattanooga has filed a class action lawsuit against American Honda Motor Company, Inc. for manufacturing and selling vehicles with allegedly defective window mechanisms. The complaint charges that the Honda window defect poses a safety hazard to drivers and passengers nationwide, Mark P. Chalos of the Nashville office of the national plaintiffs’ law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, said.
The vehicles at issue include the Honda Odyssey, Honda Pilot, Honda Element, Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, Honda Civic, and Acura MDX from model years 1994 to 2007.
Windows in these vehicles allegedly can, without warning, drop into the door frame and break or become permanently stuck in the fully-open position.
Mr. Bordelon commented, “Had I known I would be faced with serial replacements of a substandard part, I would not have bought a Honda Element. Both of our windows failed during normal driving – one failed when we were at a complete stop, in fact. I have had to pay to fix my Element twice and am concerned that I will have to keep fixing it. That’s not what I would want from any car, much less one from a brand that sells itself on its quality and reliability.”
“The right passenger side window fell into the door of my 2002 Honda Odyssey LX in September 2011,” stated Phyllis Grodzitsky, another plaintiff in the class action lawsuit and a resident of San Diego, Calif. "It was a startling, loud sound that jolted me. I lost use of my Odyssey for two days and it cost over $400 to fix the window.”
“I made a complaint to Honda,” Ms. Grodzitsky added. “Honda said there is no recall for the window systems on my vehicle. I feel that arrogance by a large corporation in response to a safety issue is unacceptable in this day and age.”
“Honda has a duty to manufacture and sell safe vehicles, and to fix or pay for safety defects in its vehicles,” attorney Chalos stated. “Instead, Honda has refused to acknowledge any responsibility for the alleged defect, and forced its customers to pay for the repairs out their own pockets.
"Not only did our clients complain to Honda about their failures at the time, but before we filed this lawsuit we reached out to and notified Honda of the problem and asked them to resolve it for everyone who has the vehicles. Honda never responded."
The suit was filed in Los Angeles.