2006 Honda Odyssey EX review from North America

A/C not working because a poorly design condenser was damaged by a rock. There is no protection on the front.

My husband and I purchased a brand new Odyssey Van in June 2006. Absolutely love the van. We have had no problems until we realized our air conditioner wasn’t working recently in May 2008. Our van only has 24,000 miles on it.

I called our Honda service department, and was told if it is a rock that damaged the condenser it is not covered. I said, a rock and she replied; yes rocks can damage the condenser. My husband and I never have heard such thing. Without Honda even looking at my van, they already knew exactly what was wrong.

So that day I got a phone call from service, and sure enough they said a rock has damaged your condenser, and it would not be covered because that is considered road debris and it will cost you 800.00. The service person said they see this every week, and then he said I mean once a month, so I was curious and got on the internet to see if anybody else had had the same problem, and sure enough, hundreds of complaints with the same problem.

I contacted Honda America Corp and they said sorry it is not covered because it is road debris damage.

It’s not my fault, and thousands of other consumer's fault that they poorly designed the Honda Odysseys and Honda Accords. I noticed on the new 2008 Vans and cars they have a protection on the front now. But that’s not fair for all the people who have purchased a van or car 2007 or earlier. I think that they should have a recall on this matter and fix the problem. I didn’t pay $30,000.00 for a van to have this problem. They need to put some kind of protection on the van so it doesn’t happen again.

I just want to let all other consumers beware of this so they don’t make the same mistake we did. I am contacting the Consumer report, Better Business Bureau all news media and papers until this problem is taking care of. I already have one local TV station doing the story. If we would have known this problem before we wouldn’t have purchased it. I think Honda is treating their customers very poorly on this matter, and should definitely have a recall. Thank you for listening to my complaint, and hopefully we will get this solved.