Honda Civic Electric Parking Brake Problems Lead to Lawsuit

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https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2019/honda-civic-electric-parking-brake-problems-lawsuit.shtml

"May 9, 2019 — Honda Civic electric parking brake problems, as well as gear shift and transmission problems, have caused a proposed class action lawsuit that includes 2016-2018 Civics.

The cars are equipped with continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) and are allegedly prone to roll away even though the gear shifters appear to be in PARK.

According to the lawsuit, electric parking brake problems occur because the parking brakes don't automatically activate when drivers exit the cars or when the driver-side doors are opened.

Plaintiff Patrick Rojas says he purchased a 2016 Honda Civic in June 2016 for about $23,500 from a Honda dealership in Florida.

In October 2018, Plaintiff Rojas had parked and when he returned to the parking lot the Civic had allegedly rolled about 20 feet from where he parked. The plaintiff says his car was dented over the front wheel from where the Civic hit a truck.

In November 2018, Rojas says he took the car for an inspection and told the Honda dealer about the rollaway incident, so technicians performed a software update for free.

The plaintiff says he is now afraid the Civic will roll away again so he refuses to park in crowded lots.

According to the lawsuit, the CVTs have defects that leave drivers guessing if the cars are in PARK even when the gear shifters say they are.

In 2016, Honda recalled about 350,000 model year 2016 Civics and said, “if the EPB (electric parking brake) isn’t properly set and a parking gear is not selected by the driver, the vehicle could potentially roll away, increasing risk of a crash.”

Honda dealerships were told to update the vehicle stability assist software so the electric parking brakes would engage when the vehicles were parked. However, the plaintiff says the software update didn't repair the rollaway threat.

Additionally, 2017 Honda Civic owners have complained about the electric parking brake problems, yet the automaker hasn't recalled those model year cars.

The plaintiff says nearly 1 million vehicles are at risk of rolling away because of the CVT problems even though Honda allegedly knows customers shouldn't depend on what the gear shifters indicate.

Customers also allegedly wouldn't have purchased the Civics, or would have paid much less for them, if the automaker would have acknowledged the transmission and gear shifter problems.

The Honda Civic gear shift and electric parking brake lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida - Rojas, et al., v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., et al."

I think the guy above probably put the gear shifter in Neutral instead of Park, AND forgot to engage electronic parking brake, but I was wondering if any of you guys have had similar experiences?
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alias Igme

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According to the lawsuit, electric parking brake problems occur because the parking brakes don't automatically activate when drivers exit the cars or when the driver-side doors are opened.
Wait, I haven't tried this, but does the electronic paring break supposed to turn on automatically when the driver exits the car? I know that if you have the brake hold on, it switches to parking break when you remove the seat belt.
I am yet to read the entire article, but this sounds like yet another case of a millennial feeling that everyone else needs to do things that he/she/whatever forgot to do.
 

Lazylahma

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Why do people expect the epb to turn on automatically for them, it never did before...

I can’t help but rofl when it says if the epb is not properly set and a parking gear not selected the car can roll away, pretty sure that is the case with every car ever made

People just need someone else to blame for their mistakes
 


TPA_CivicSi

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Why do people expect the epb to turn on automatically for them, it never did before...
The parking break turns on automatically in my '19 Si in very particualr circumstance:
  • Break Hold is on.
  • Seat belt is buckled.
  • Car is turned off while the break pedal is pressed (not 100% sure about the pedal part).

It's so convoluted, I don't bother with relying on the car to turn it on, I just set it myself like I've been doing for the last 30 years.
 

Zeffy94

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I was taught to set the parking brake every time. Automatic, or manual. Every time, I set the parking brake when parked. It baffles me people don’t do this, like my own family. It takes literally one extra second.
 

nothome17

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Honda might as well get rid of this EPB feature and make it a requirement to press the button. Audi requires to push the electronic parking break to have it on. Hopefully these buttons are spill proof as my wife tends to spill stuff.
 

hobby-man

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I was taught to set the parking brake every time. Automatic, or manual. Every time, I set the parking brake when parked. It baffles me people don’t do this, like my own family. It takes literally one extra second.
Same here. When I sold my 8th gen, the buyer drove away and texted me two mins later asking why the car was beeping. Left without putting the parking brake down, didn't even think to look :doh:
 


LegendaryElite

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What an idiot. This has nothing to do with electric park or not, this guy would forget to use the parking break even if it was manual.
I know newer Toyotas engage electric parking break when shifted to Park, but still it should be a basic knowledge that parking break is essential for protecting the transmission.
 

Hondaman_MI

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I was taught to set the parking brake every time. Automatic, or manual. Every time, I set the parking brake when parked. It baffles me people don’t do this, like my own family. It takes literally one extra second.
One second is too much work for many people. They like a car because of all the safety features, but can't flick their wrist to use the turn signal.
 

BlueLdr

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"According to the lawsuit, the CVTs have defects that leave drivers guessing if the cars are in PARK even when the gear shifters say they are."

"Honda dealerships were told to update the vehicle stability assist software so the electric parking brakes would engage when the vehicles were parked. However, the plaintiff says the software update didn't repair the rollaway threat."

Seems like a pretty clear and valid case to me. Whether you were taught to do it or not, engaging the parking brake is not a required part of the process of parking the car. Since the CVT (allegedly) has a defect that doesn't hold the car in place when in P, and the software update that Honda was required to perform (allegedly) didn't mitigate this defect, Honda is in the wrong (if the facts back up the allegations).
 

GlowKitty

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Yeah I have a habit of putting the E-parking brake on every time, as well as leaving my car in gear (in a manual), weather I'm on a hill or not. What my mom taught me to do so I'll keep doin it.
 

LegendaryElite

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Yeah I have a habit of putting the E-parking brake on every time, as well as leaving my car in gear (in a manual), weather I'm on a hill or not. What my mom taught me to do so I'll keep doin it.
It doesn't really matter if you're on a hill or not.
When parking break is not engaged the thing that stops the car from moving is the parking pawl in the gear box, which is a small pieces that stuck into the gear.
It has to hold 2 tons of car and that exerts excessive strain to the transmission.
The standard procedure is to engage the parking break before shifting into park to avoid any unnecessary strain.
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