Honda Civic and Legend recall in Japan: fuel pump defect can stall the engine mid-drive
D.Novikov / 32CARS
Honda is recalling 36,116 Civic and Legend cars in Japan. A faulty low-pressure fuel pump can cause the engine to stall mid-drive and fail to restart.
Honda has announced a recall of the Civic and Legend in Japan over a defect in the fuel system. The campaign covers 36,116 vehicles built between 27 September 2017 and 21 December 2021.
The trouble lies in the low-pressure fuel pump fitted to cars designed for premium unleaded gasoline. During factory testing of the pump, an unsuitable test fluid was used — it seeped into the plastic impeller and weakened its structure. Out in the real world, repeated heating and cooling cycles open up those microscopic cracks, the impeller swells from contact with fuel, and starts to scrape against the pump cover. In the worst case the pump stops working, the engine cuts out while the car is moving, and refuses to restart.
Honda will replace the low-pressure fuel pump with a revised part free of charge. By the time the recall was filed, 178 failure cases and one accident had been logged.
For owners, the danger lies in how suddenly this fault hits. It’s not a creaky suspension or a glitchy infotainment screen: if the engine quits in heavy traffic or out on the highway, there’s barely any time for a calm reaction.
