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Honda settles class-action lawsuit over oil-burning V6s

Although we hadn't heard of this issue before, Automotive News reports that Honda has agreed to settle a massive class-action lawsuit brought against it for engine trouble potentially affecting nearly 1.6 million vehicles. The lawsuit includes Accord (2008-12), Odyssey (2008-13), Pilot (2009-13) and Crosstour (2010-13) models equipped with the 3.5-liter V6 with Variable Cylinder Management, which might experience engine misfire, excessive oil burning and premature spark plug fouling issues.
As part of the settlement, Honda will extend the powertrain warranty on these models for eight years (from time of purchase or lease) with no mileage limitation, and it will also reimburse customers who had to pay out-of-pocket expenses for related repairs such as spark plugs, pistons or, in some cases, apparently, an entirely new engine. (Of course, the repairs had to be related to certain trouble codes.) Lawyers will get no more than $800,000 from Honda and the guy who originally started the case, Vince Eagen, will get $1,000 for his "time and effort."
The final ruling on the matter will take place on March 21, 2014, and if you want to see if you're affected and what options you have in the settlement, check out this .pdf document with all the details.

Honda bringing LMP2 racer to Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak always brings out an array of interesting entries. Honda has fielded quite a few of its own, but will take the unusual step this year of entering a Le Mans prototype. The new ARX-04b is the latest in a line of prototypes which Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research developed to compete in the LMP2 class in series like the FIA World Endurance Championship, the United SportsCar Series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Though it's designed to race on closed circuits, Honda has announced that it'll be taking on the 156 turns and 12.42 miles of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this year. Driving duties will be handled by Justin Wilson, an accomplished British circuit racer who's competed in Formula One and won races in the IndyCar Series and in Champ Cars before it. He's also tried his hand at Formula E and competed in Le Mans prototypes before as well. Though it will be entered in the Unlimited class, it won't be gunning directly for the record set by Sebastien Loeb two years ago in the Peugeot 208 T16. At least not just yet. "This is an exploratory effort," said HPD chief Art St. Cyr, "to learn as much as we can in advance of a possible future assault on the outright record." We're looking forward to seeing what she'll do when the event takes place later this month. Honda-Powered HPD ARX-04b to tackle Pikes Peak Jun 17, 2015 - TORRANCE, Calif. - Indy car veteran, race winner Justin Wilson to pilot LMP2 machine - New coupe design debuted at 24 Hours of Daytona - Utilizes production-based 3.5 liter Honda V6 engine A number of different types of Honda and Acura vehicles have taken part in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in recent years, ranging from the Acura NSX to the Honda Fit, and even a high-speed Honda Odyssey, but Honda Performance Development has upped the ante this year by entering one its newest sports cars in the race up the 14,110-foot mountain. The new Honda-powered HPD ARX-04b LMP2 coupe that competed in this year's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona has been entered in the 2015 Pikes Peak event, and will be driven by Verizon IndyCar Series race winner and former Formula 1 driver Justin Wilson. The ARX-04b will be the first full-carbon monocoque vehicle ever sanctioned for PPIHC entry and will be fitted with a 3.5-liter V6 twin-turbocharged engine. The ARX-04b will compete in the Unlimited class, which features highly-modified cars that can navigate the 156 turns of the 12.42-mile course in under 10 minutes.

Honda Accord, Civic are America's most stolen cars

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released its latest Hot Wheels study on the most popular stolen cars and trucks for 2012. The study has changed a bit from past years, with the new findings listing only the make and model of each vehicle, while taking into account all model years in its totals. Previous iterations only focused on the most stolen vehicles of a particular model year, with that make and model not appearing anywhere else on the list so as not to appear to call out a particular car. Confusing, eh? Said another way, in previous studies, if the three most stolen vehicles were the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Belchfire Turbo from Fictitious Motors, only the model year with the highest number of thefts would make the list.
The new study takes all model years into consideration while breaking down the number of vehicles stolen per model year in a full, in-depth report. Separately, the NICB is also listing the top 25 new vehicles stolen in 2012. That list is limited exclusively to model year 2012 entries.
Honda took the top two spots in the most stolen vehicles list, with 58,596 Accord models stolen and 47,037 Civic models stolen. The study is interesting, though, in that the most recent model year for the Accord is 1997, while the most recent the Civic is 2000. In fact, Hondas from 1990 to 2000 make up 16 of the top 20 cars stolen in 2012, according to the NICB. Compare that with the MY2012 list, where Honda's vehicles are eleventh and fifteenth, and it looks like the Japanese brand has been beefing up its theft control.