Kurt Witzig first noticed something wrong with his CR-V—Honda’s top-selling vehicle in the U.S.—when it was just 4 months old. On a cold January day earlier this year, just a few miles from Witzig’s home in Duluth, Minn., his SUV stalled while he was out doing morning errands. Witzig got the car restarted but couldn’t coax it over 20 mph. So he steered the limping SUV to the nearest Honda dealer.
After two weeks of being unable to diagnose the problem, the dealer finally determined that gas was improperly leaking into the oil, Witzig said, though the mechanic still wasn’t sure how to fix the problem. After learning that other CR-V owners with the same problem ended up getting the oil changed, Witzig asked for the same stopgap solution. And finally, frustrated by what he saw as Honda’s inability or unwillingness to fix a potentially serious engine problem, Witzig traded in his 5-month-old CR-V for a Toyota RAV4, taking a $7,000 loss in the process.
It turns out that Witzig isn’t alone. He’s one of nine Consumer Reports members who have reported this problem to us this year...
**Special thanks to USNA1999 for the lead on this story.
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