2018 Honda Odyssey Visibility & Wipers Problems

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while his wife was dropping off their son at school, the sunroof was open, and the close button was depressed while the son’s hand was hanging out of the sunroof. The sunroof proceeded to close, and the sensors did not prevent the sunroof from continuously attempting to close. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that his wife was forced to push up on the sunroof to free her son's hand, and in the process received a minor cut on her right hand, while the son sustained bruising on his right hand. Medical treatment was needed for the injury. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and the contact was advised that the sunroof assembly was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 111,000.

Rear backup camera stopped working. Currently there is an active recall for 2018 Odysseys on all trim levels vin specific but somehow our vin number isn’t covered under the recall. I followed service bulletin 20-060 and it fixed the problem.

The Touring and Elite trim levels on the Honda Odyssey have 'rain sensing' wipers, as well as a low, high, and one-wipe function. The rain sensing function cannot be disabled, and takes the place of any intermittent feature. The rain sensing is always on and not disableable, unlike other vehicles that allow the operator to choose whether or not to use the feature, or simply set intermittent wipe speed manually. Honda's rain sensing function simply does not work, making the wipers go full speed in light mist or not work at all in heavy rain. Due to the fact the rain sensing function cannot be disabled, operators are either stuck with wipers off or on continual speed. This is both distracting as operators either must manually flick the wiper stalk for a one-wipe function in light rain every few seconds, or run the wipers continually, causing streaking and difficult visibility in lighter rain or snow events. This problem is well-documented on Odyssey and Civic forums, and I have purchased and replaced the rain sensor with no change in system performance. It's shocking Honda cannot allow a user to simply disable the feature via a software menu like almost every other manufacturer.

Sunroof shattered at highway speed without warning. No previous cracks in the window. All windows were rolled up an closed, conditions were dry, there was no immediate debris that caused the issue.

The Odyssey Elite has "rain sensing" wipers with no ability to disable them. The rain sensor fails to accurately assess water on the windshield, making the van's wiper choices either "off" or "low" or "high". I researched other Odyssey forum posts, and this issue is extremely common. This is a safety issue for two reasons. First, driver distraction trying to operate a non-functional system. Second, in light mist or rain as the "low" setting is too fast and smears and streaks, while "off" doesn't remove water. Other vehicles with rain-sensing wipers contain a disable feature in the software, allowing manual override for intermittent speeds. Honda offers no such bypass.

I WAS DRIVING ON THE 400 IN WEST SENECA NY AND A TRUCK ENTERED AT THE UNION RD EXIT. THERE WAS NO OTHER VEHICLE AROUND ME AND SOMETHING CAME OUT OF THE UNCOVERED DUMPSTER THE TRUCK WAS CARRYING AND HIT MY WINDSHIELD LEAVING A CRACK.

VAN WAS PARKED INSIDE A GARAGE WITH NO DAMAGE. WALKED INTO THE GARAGE HOURS LATER AND NOTICED THE DRIVERS REAR QUARTER PANEL WINDOW CRACKING AND BREAKING APART ON ITS OWN. GLASS BREAKAGE PATTERN APPEARS TO BE SPONTANEOUS WINDOW FAILURE POSSIBLY DUE TO MANUFACTURING DEFECT. MAY CAUSE SAFETY HAZARD IF I WERE DRIVING THE VEHICLE WITH KIDS IN THE REAR SEAT AND IT GAVE WAY THEN.

ON THE US 2018 HONDA ODYSSEY MODEL, THERE IS NO LOW WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID WARNING. THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE AS I FOUND THIS OUT ON A SLOPPY, SALTY WISCONSIN INTERSTATE NEXT TO A SEMI WITH MY WIFE AND KIDS IN THE VEHICLE. SALT ON A WINDSHIELD GIVES YOU ZERO VISIBILITY WITHOUT WASHER FLUID, AND LUCKILY I WAS ABLE TO EXIT THE INTERSTATE AND MAKE IT TO A GAS STATION TO FILL WITH WASHER FLUID WITHOUT INCIDENT. MY 2000 EXPLORER AND 2010 RAV4 HAVE LOW WASHER FLUID WARNING LIGHTS. WITH THE 1000S OF DOLLARS OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SAFETY FEATURES BUILT INTO THE ODYSSEY, CONSUMERS EXPECT THE INEXPENSIVE SIMPLE THINGS LIKE A LOW WASHER FLUID WARNING. THIS SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO RECALL.

THE FRONT WINDOW WASHER WILL NOT DISPENSE FLUID WHEN THE WEATHER IS COLD. DEALERSHIP SAID FLUID FREEZES IN THE BOTTLE, BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE BECAUSE BACK NOZZLE WORKS. FRONT NOZZLES WORK IF VAN LEFT IN GARAGE OVERNIGHT. THIS MORNING, AFTER 15 MIN OF DRIVING IN 10 DEGREES, FRONT NOZZLES DO NOT DISPENSE. HONDA DEALERSHIP SHRUGGED WHEN I SAID IT'S A SAFETY ISSUE. DRY SNOW, SALT, ICE, MUD THROWN ON WINDSHIELD WHEN DRIVING, AND NO WAY TO EFFECTIVELY CLEAR IT OFF. WASHER FLUID WAS FILLED BY DEALERSHIP ONE WEEK AGO. DISPENSER BOTTLE IS 95% FULL. THE ISSUE IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN DISPENSER BOTTLE AND FRONT NOZZLES. THIS FIRST HAPPENED YESTERDAY EVENING WHEN I WAS DRIVING HOME IN THE DARK (ABOUT 10 DEGREES OUT). WINDSHIELD WAS DANGEROUSLY DIRTY BY THE TIME I GOT HOME.