Class Action Filed in California Over Alleged Honda Infotainment System Defect in 2019-2020 Acura RDX Vehicles [UPDATE]
Last Updated on January 24, 2022
Banh et al. v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Filed: July 11, 2019 ◆§ 2:19-cv-05984
American Honda Motor Co. faces another class action centered on an alleged defect with its "infotainment" system, this time in 2019-2020 Acura RDX vehicles.
Case Updates
January 24, 2022 – Acura Touchscreen Settlement Receives Final Approval
United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner has granted final approval to the nearly $2.9 million settlement detailed below.
Judge Klausner formally signed off on the deal in a nine-page approval order submitted on January 19, 2022.
The deadline for filing a claim with the settlement is February 4. More information can be found over on the settlement website, which states that reimbursement payments will be sent out after the resolution of any appeals.
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November 8, 2021 – Settlement Receives Preliminary Approval
The judge overseeing the case detailed on this page has preliminarily approved the parties’ reworked settlement proposal.
While U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner had held off on approving a previous version of the deal, noting that the release of claims was “overly broad,” the judge found that the revised settlement limited released claims to those “based on the same factual predicate asserted in the Second Amended Complaint.” In other words, the new deal resolves the judge’s concerns that some Acura drivers would be barred by the settlement from filing claims for issues with their vehicles’ infotainment systems that were unrelated to those described in the litigation.
The settlement, which received preliminary approval on June 3, 2021, will cover all current and former owners and current lessees of the 2019-2020 Acura RDX who reside in and purchased or leased their vehicles in the U.S., Puerto Rico and all U.S. territories (and who did so for purposes other than resale or distribution).
According to court documents, claimants will receive an extended two-year or 24,000-mile warranty to cover qualified repairs of their infotainment system, as well as reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses that would have been covered under the extended warranty. Those who made multiple visits to an authorized Acura dealership due to the infotainment issue and did not have the problem fixed during the initial visit will also receive two years of free AcuraLink Security Service.
American Honda Motor Company has also agreed to compensate certain costs related to delayed warranty claims, such as transportation and battery recharging costs; submit to an independent review of the measures it takes to address the infotainment system problems; oversee a dealership assistance and assessment program that will require dealerships and technicians to undergo additional training to learn how to address the infotainment system issues; and set up an online resource for consumers to help address their infotainment problems.
The proposed settlement also notes that Honda has already issued three recalls and four service bulletins in response to the litigation along with “numerous software updates” that were wirelessly delivered to the vehicles’ infotainment systems.
Those covered by the settlement should receive notice of the deal by mail and email. A dedicated settlement website has also been established and provides additional information on the deal and how to submit a claim.
A final approval hearing has been scheduled for December 6, 2021.
April 14, 2021 – Judge Holds Off on Preliminary Settlement Approval
United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner has opted against preliminarily approving a settlement for the proposed class action detailed on this page, reasoning that the specifics of the proposed deal would hinder future claims not related to those presented by the plaintiffs.
According to the minutes of a hearing held Friday, Judge Klausner denied without prejudice the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of a proposed settlement the parties argued was “fair and reasonable.” The issue, the judge highlighted, is that the language in the settlement agreement between the class of California drivers and Honda with regard to the release of claims against the automaker is “overly broad” in that it “impermissibly releases claims beyond the factual predicate of the operative complaint.”
“Other courts have declined to provisionally certify class action settlement agreements that contained similarly broad releases,” Judge Klausner said. “Thus, the Court cannot approve the settlement until the scope of the release is narrowed to only apply to claims based on the same factual predicate asserted in the operative complaint to comply with [legal precedent].”
The plaintiffs have until 14 days from April 9 by which to file a renewed motion for preliminary settlement approval.
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July 28, 2020 – Judge Certifies California-Only Class
The judge overseeing the lawsuit detailed on this page has certified the following class:
“All persons or entities who purchased a new Class Car [2019 or 2020 Acura RDX vehicle] from an authorized Acura dealer in California.”
In an order issued July 28, the judge declared that the plaintiffs failed to offer a “workable solution” as to how the court should instruct the jury on the differences in state laws for the non-California plaintiffs. Consequently, their claims were severed from the case and transferred back to their home states.
The full order can be read here.
A proposed class action has been filed against American Honda Motor Co. over an apparent infotainment system defect in 2019 and 2020 Acura RDX vehicles. Echoing an amended complaint filed in June, the lawsuit charges the vehicle’s infotainment system can frequently freeze or crash, which can render many of the system’s features, for which consumers paid a premium price, inoperable.
The infotainment system, which in third-generation Acura RDX vehicles comes with a single high-definition 10.2-inch touchpad-controlled display, is described as the “gateway” through which drivers and passengers can operate a vehicle’s audio system, GPS navigation, backup camera, and Bluetooth functionality. The issue, according to the complaint, is that the infotainment system is prone to frequent freezing or crashing. Overarching the alleged defect itself is the danger the lawsuit says this poses, as drivers can become distracted in the event of an infotainment system error on the road.
“Indeed, even under the best of conditions when infotainment-type systems are working properly, using them can create dangerous distractions,” the suit reads. “The chance of distraction is magnified when the systems do not work properly. The defect can also render safety-related systems (including backup camera functions) to fail.”
For its part, Honda, the lawsuit alleges, has “long known or should have known” of the infotainment system defect in newer Acura RDX vehicles, in part because of the “widespread consumer complaints” posed since the vehicles’ launch. According to the complaint, Honda “failed to disclose and actively concealed” the infotainment system defect from consumers, and continued to manufacture and sell vehicles with faulty systems.
What’s more, Honda, lacking a remedy to the alleged defect, has told vehicle owners and lessees to wait for a forthcoming software update it claims will fix the infotainment system issues, the lawsuit continues. In other cases, the suit says, Honda “replaces defective parts with equally defective parts,” trapping proposed class members in a less-than-ideal cycle. Honda dealerships, the case goes on, have even gone as far as to tell some consumers not to bother bringing their vehicles in for infotainment service at all.
“In fact, Honda’s authorized dealerships are routinely discouraging Vehicle owners from bringing their Vehicles to the dealership because there is nothing the dealership can do to repair the defect,” the case states.
The lawsuit rounds out by mentioning the Acura RDX was originally scheduled to launch with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity as standard features, and such was advertised by Honda in pre-release promotional materials distributed to dealers. When the vehicles hit the market in 2018, however, they came equipped with only Apple CarPlay, the case says, while Honda claimed Android compatibility was temporarily delayed while it worked on the vehicle’s touchpad controls. According to the lawsuit, more than a year has passed since the affected vehicles were released, and owners and lessees continue to wait for the Android compatibility promised by Honda.
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