Honda Idle Stop Lawsuit: Owners Get $7,500 — Lawyers Want $36 Million

Honda Sued For Its Idle Stop

A feature that’s meant to save drivers some dollars at the pump might end up costing Honda dearly, think about $36,000,000 in legal fees and expenses. The lawsuit revolves around Honda’s Idle-Stop feature and how it refused to start the engine up again after activating, Car Complaints reports.

How Honda’s system works is that it shuts off the engine after it comes to a stop and idles for more than two seconds. When the brake pedal is released, the system will restart the engine automatically.

According to the lawsuit, the idle-stop system wouldn’t allow the engine to restart, even after the engine start button was pressed. leaving the vehicle immobile. According to the lawsuit, the feature wouldn’t allow the engine to restart even after the brake pedal was released, and it has been ongoing for quite some time.

Affected Models

Both Honda and Acura models were affected, including those with 3.5-liter engines and 9-speed automatic transmissions. This isn’t the first time that Honda’s 3.5-liter V6 has been “taken to court.” In fact, there is another lawsuit involving these motors for a different issue.

• 2015 to 2020 Acura TLX
• 2016 to 2020 Acura MDX
• 2016 to 2021 Honda Pilot
• 2019 to 2021 Honda Passport
• 2020 to 2021 Honda Ridgeline

Vehicles that have already undergone the warranty process, as indicated by a new starter motor replacement (A53 starter motor assembly), are not included in the warranty extension.

Honda’s Response

Honda’s been hit with a lot of lawsuits lately, from peeling white paint to phantom braking. This is yet another lawsuit that Big H has to handle. Owners filed multiple class-action lawsuits and then consolidated them into one, called “In re Honda Idle Stop Litigation.” The judge allowed the plaintiffs to modify and refile their class action a total of five times. It was certified in 11 states, and in a bid to settle, Honda offered 10-year warranty extensions in 2022 and 2023 for the affected models. The extended period began when the model went into service.

Honda even skipped the technical inspection entirely for this issue, allowing eligible vehicles to claim the extended warranty without having to reproduce the problem.

More problems arose with the initial offer, as some affected models were more than 10 years old by the time a fix was available. Honda was rather generous and offered an extension to the Idle Stop warranty claim period, which is 24 months for 2015 model year vehicles and 18 months for 2016 model year vehicles.

Honda has also offered reimbursements to customers who paid for Idle Stop repairs themselves. Owners who have repaired the issue can apply for settlement via reimbursement, provided that proper documentation of the repair is available.

The Settlement

The 20 Honda customers who sued the Japanese automaker will receive $7,500 each. However, the lawyers representing those plaintiffs are seeking $35,250,000 in attorney fees and $823,131.24 in expenses.

A final approval hearing is scheduled for June 1, 2026, and might finally bring this litigation to an end, but for now, nothing is official until the judge grants final approval.