RECALL ALERT: All-New Honda Civic 2.0 Is Officially Issued A Stop Sale For 34k Units

According to a user in a Honda-specific forum, the 2016 Honda Civic 2.0-liter variant has been officially placed on a stop sale as there is a manufacturing defect from the factory. While that may sound bad initially, there is some good news here.

It is not a full-on stop sale. It impacts about 34,000 copies in the U.S. and it is a VIN-specific issue.

This means if you really want the 2.0-liter Civic, you can find them on dealer lots just be aware that they cleared for sale cars may be in limited numbers.

From what we gleaned from Honda's official bulletin to dealer parts and service managers, the 2.0-liter engines are missing piston pin snap rings. Without this component the vehicle may stall or its engine may fail. Obviously, that's problematic.


Honda's announcement below:

DATE: January 30, 2016
TO: All Honda Parts & Service Managers, Advisors and Personnel
FROM: Campaign Administration
RE: Stop Sale/Safety Recall: 2016 Civic Piston Pin Snap Ring

On Friday, January 29, 2016, American Honda notified NHTSA of a stop sale and safety recall for approximately 34,000 2016 Civic vehicles due to potentially missing or misset piston pin snap rings that may cause engine stall or failure. Any new or used units in dealer stock must be inspected, and if necessary, repaired per service bulletin 16-017, Safety Recall: Piston Pin Snap Ring once the parts, tools, and complete repair information are available. Refer to your eResponsibility report or VIN inquiry to determine which units in your inventory are affected by this safety recall.

Note: Affected vehicles should not be sold until the repair has been completed. Should an unrepaired vehicle result in any claim because of the required recall repair, the dealership will be solely responsible to the claimant, and will be required to defend and indemnify American Honda for any resulting claims.

All affected units will require use of a borescope to inspect the four cylinders to confirm correct piston pin snap ring placement. Vehicles exhibiting any concerns with piston pin snap ring placement may require replacement of damaged pistons, piston pins or rings, or other related engine components.

Replacement parts are not available at this time. American Honda is working to procure a sufficient number of borescopes and replacement parts to satisfy this recall. As such, the version of bulletin 16-017 posted on the Service Information System does not currently contain any tool, parts, warranty, inspection, or repair information. Once tools and parts are made available, American Honda will revise service bulletin 16-017 to include all details related to this recall. American Honda will notify dealers of the bulletin revision and tool distribution details via iN message.

Customers affected by this safety recall may visit your dealership prior to tool, parts and/or repair procedure availability. Please be sure to inform these customers of the safety recall, being sure to let them know that tools and parts are not currently available, and that they will be notified once supply stabilizes. American Honda expects to conduct customer notification in mid-March 2016. By this time, all necessary tools, parts and details are expected to be available.

As always, please be sure to check VIN status inquiry to determine if this or any open safety recall applies to a particular vehicle.



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USNA1999 - 2/3/2016 9:20:16 AM

+1 Boost

Honda what is happening to your quality? This new Civic and the Accord look very nice.

poot66 - 2/3/2016 9:39:18 AM

+4 Boost

In their defense it is not a quality issue across the board just one specific factories error

Agent009 - 2/3/2016 10:57:55 AM

-6 Boost

poot66 -
Isn't an assembly failure a quality issue?

poot66 - 2/3/2016 3:33:16 PM

+2 Boost

My point is that that could happen to any company (especially in a new model) and more importantly than one specific factory dropping the ball is how they respond.

If this happened to all the Honda Civics in all their factories then there would be cause for concern. This is inconsequential.

HoustonMidtown - 2/3/2016 1:31:09 PM

0 Boost

People already driving one of these are supposed to stop driving until the parts come in (mid-March) ?

cidflekken - 2/4/2016 12:57:13 PM

+1 Boost

I guess I don't understand why they have to wait until mid-March. If they were misset, then reset them (of course, I'm not a mechanic so I don't know if it's that easy). If it was missed, then it means they are still sitting in a parts bin somewhere and all necessary tools, parts, etc should already be in place. Or is Honda not telling the true,full story of what the issue is?

And customers won't be notified until mid-March, so does it mean that the issue isn't that serious?