American Honda Motor Co. has identified a problem with HR-V and Fit vehicles that had been recalled in February 2023 for an improperly designed power circuit in the display audio unit. If the 12-volt battery state of charge drops below 9 volts while cranking, a timing mismatch or logic error in the display audio unit may lead to a blank central display and no rearview camera feed.
In addition to increasing the risk of a back-up collision, this concern also goes against Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111. How is American Honda Motor Co. going to fix said issue? Rather than replacing the power circuit or the display audio unit, dealers are required to reprogram said unit with updated software. Supplied by Denso Ten America Limited, the display audio units are listed by the automaker under five part numbers.
Similar to the first safety recall, this one also comprises 114,686 vehicles. The vehicles in question are split between the 2019 through 2022 model year Honda HR-V and the 2018 through 2020 model year Honda Fit. Production dates range from June 12, 2017 to November 30, 2020 and July 7, 2018 to April 25, 2022. Prior to filing the recall documentation with the NHTSA, the automaker was aware of 92 claims related to this issue, claims received between February 2023 and April 2024.
Dealers have already been instructed about said recall, while affected customers will be informed no later than July 8, 2024 via first-class mail. According to the company, the previous remedy software was insufficiently verified. In other words, Honda didn't verify whether the original countermeasure had fixed the boot-up procedure.
As you're well aware, one of the two aforementioned vehicles isn't available to order nowadays. The Fit was discontinued after the 2020 model year despite launching a completely new Jazz for markets outside North America in 2020.
Photo: Honda
The fourth-gen Jazz was unleashed in October 2019, and over in Europe, it's a hybrid affair exclusively due to increasingly stringent emission regulations. Honda calls the hybrid setup e:HEV, which brings together a 1.5L four-pot mill and two electric motors. One of them is designed to recharge the high-voltage battery, while the other is a traction motor that assists the 1.5L engine at low speeds.
There's no replacement for the Fit in the US market, although the automaker did increase HR-V production to satisfy the growing demand for small crossovers. American Honda Motor Co. moved 35,414 units of the Fit in the United States, while HR-V sales totaled 99,104 examples of the breed.
Fast forward to 2023, and HR-V sales improved to 122,206 units. Be that as it may, the CR-V remains the sales champ with 361,457 deliveries under its belt. In second and third places, Honda lists the Civic (200,381 units) and Accord (197,947 units).
The 2020 model year Fit arrived in dealer showrooms in December 2019 with a starting price of $16,190 (excluding the $930 destination charge), whereas the 2020 model year HR-V used to retail at $20,820 (plus $1,095 for the destination charge). By comparison, the 2025 model on sale today is $25,100 for the front-drive LX trim level. All-wheel drive adds $1,500 to the tally. Regardless of grade, all HR-V comes with a CVT connected to a 158-horsepower naturally aspirated four-pot motor.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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