The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation based on complaints that 2002-2004 Honda CR-V SUVs have headlights that are frying themselves and making them inoperable.
This new NHTSA investigation affects roughly 288,000 Honda CR-V models built from 2002-2004 and the decision was made to check out these vehicles after the Feds received 12 complaints about the Honda sport ute. According to the NHTSA, the complaints allege that the headlights have completely stopped working and owners who have had the vehicles repaired have found that the headlight switch and the harness connecting it to the headlight assemblies are overheating and melting the low-beam headlight circuit.
When this happens, the headlights of the 2002-2004 Honda CR-Vs under investigation will not function due to the fried wiring. Considering that this problem occurs due to overheating, that means that the failure occurs while the headlights are being operated. Imagine driving along a dark road at night and your headlights go out – and won’t come back on. This very clearly presents a safety issue to both the individuals driving these vehicles as well as the rest of the motorists around should the lights fail in or around traffic.
Considering the fact that there is a clear safety risk here, any findings by the NHTSA of a defect in Honda’s headlight wiring system will likely result in a recall but as for right now, this is strictly a preliminary investigation. Honda has not yet commented on the problem but considering the beating Toyota has taken over the past few years for sluggish recall practices, the odds are good that if the Feds find something wrong with the 2002-2004 CR-V, Honda will be recalling these vehicles to address the problem before anyone gets hurt.
Source: The Detroit News
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