Class Action Says Seatbelt Configuration in ’17-’18 Honda CR-Vs Doesn't Allow for Three Backseat Passengers

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American Honda Motor Co., Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action lawsuit in which a consumer claims the automaker has deceptively advertised its 2017-2018 model year CR-Vs as having a seating capacity of five. 

Honda advertises its 2017-2018 CR-Vs as having three-point seat belts at all seating positions, the lawsuit says, which ostensibly allows for three backseat passengers. In truth, however, the backseat seat belts in defendant’s CR-V models are configured in such a way that they allow for only two backseat passengers to properly buckle their seat belts at any given time, the case alleges. 

“This causes a safety issue,” according to the lawsuit,” as it prevents customers from safely seating five people in a CR-V at any given time.”

The complaint says the CR-V’s backseat seat belts are designed so that the rear driver-side and rear passenger-side seat belts are retractable to just behind a rear passenger’s shoulder. The seat belt for the rear middle seat, on the other hand, has a detachable “anchor” that retracts into the ceiling of the car, the suit says.

The problem is that the configuration of the backseat seat belts is such that the middle passenger’s anchor buckle is to the left of the driver-side passenger’s buckle, the case says. This setup makes it impossible for the middle passenger’s anchor buckle and the rear driver-side passenger’s buckle to be utilized at the same time without both seat belts overlapping or twisting.