2008 Honda Odyssey problems

“The passenger side door of my 2008 Honda Odyssey fell off when attempting to close it and nearly fell onto my child. The automatic sliding door was closing and around halfway closed it fell off of the track and started opening back up unprompted, thus damaging the rear right quarter panel as well. This is a major safety issue as it nearly crushed my [XXX] daughter, but thankfully was caught in time. A man parked near us in the parking lot helped us pick the door back up and said the same thing happened to him, also in a 2008 Honda Odyssey! Prior to the incident, the door would occasionally hesitate to open when button was pressed.”

“WHILE DRIVING WITH FOOT ON THE GAS THE VEHICLE FELT AS IF I WAS PUMPING THE BRAKES BUT I WAS NOT TOUCHING THE BRAKES. IT WAS SLOWING. I THEN HEARD A RATTLING NOISE SO I TURNED OFF THE RADIO AND OPENED THE WINDOW TO LISTEN. I CONTINUED TO DRIVE AND FELT THE SAME "BRAKE PUMPING" SENSATION AGAIN. I WAS NEAR THE DEALER SO I HEADED THERE TO REPORT THE ISSUES. DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE DEALER I FELT A VIBRATION UNDER MY FOOT ON THE GAS PEDAL AND HEAR A VIBRATION SOUND. I ARRIVED AT THE DEALER TO REPORT THE INCIDENT. I TOLD THE SERVICE REP. THAT I'D REPORTED THE SAME SENSATION 11 MONTHS AGO WHILE DRIVING ON VACATION (WHILE ON THE FREEWAY). WHEN I RETURNED HOME I BROUGHT THE VEHICLE TO DEALERSHIP BUT THEY FOUND NOTHING. I'M AFRAID TO DRIVE IT. IF IT DOES THIS WHILE SOMEONE IS DRIVING DIRECTLY BEHIND ME IT WILL CAUSE AN ACCIDENT. I HONESTLY DON'T FEEL THAT IS IT IS SAFE FOR ME OR OTHERS ON THE ROAD TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE. I'M AFRAID IT WILL DO THE SAME THING ON THE FREEWAY WHILE I'M TRAVELING AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. AT THIS MOMENT I FEEL LIKE IT IS A DEATH TRAP AND WILL NOT DRIVE IT. I'M WAITING FROM THE DEALERSHIP IN THE MORNING. *TR”

“The contact owns a 2008 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, a grinding noise was present coming from the front brakes. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the front brake rotors but after retrieving the vehicle the failure persisted. Additionally, while driving, the braking system would erroneously activate causing the vehicle to suddenly stop. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who was unable to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle continued to experience the failures and the Vehicle Stability Assistance (VSA) light started to continually flash off and on. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who diagnosed that the ABS module was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired due to the part being on backorder. The failure mileage was 209,000.”

“Incident: In Mar 2019, while driving down a highway with my family, the vehicle experienced a sudden engine malfunction while driving, characterized by a flashing Check Engine Light, severe engine shaking, and a dangerous, immediate loss of acceleration/engine power. We had to get the vehicle towed to the dealership. A diagnostic scan revealed fault code P0302, indicating a misfire in Cylinder 2. Upon mechanical inspection, the spark plug in Cylinder 2 was completely fouled and covered in engine oil. At this time, only the fouled spark plugs were replaced, and the PCM software updated. This essentially is a temporary band-aid pushing the problem further down the road. The vehicle only had around 87,481 miles, and was a little over 10 years old. The same thing happened again in Dec 2025, at around 147,979 miles. This time, we had to do an extensive and really expensive repair. The root cause was determined to be premature failure of the engine's piston rings. This is a direct result of Honda's VCM system, which shuts down cylinders during operation, creating a vacuum that forces oil past the piston rings, fouling the plugs, and causing unexpected power loss…”

“ISSUE WITH POWER STEERING RACK AND PINION LEAK. AS PART OF POWER TRAIN, THE RACK AND PINION LEAK CREATES SAFETY ISSUE WHILE DRIVING. TURNING EFFECTS DRIVING AND PINGS, KNOCKS ARE HEARD @ 52,000 MILES. WE HAVE LIFETIME UNLIMITED MILES AND YEARS WARRANTY FROM DEALER. WARRANTY COMPANY AND DEALERSHIP PARTED WAYS SO BRANDON HONDA VERBALLY REFUSES TO FIX PROBLEM. THIS SHOULD BE A RECALL. OTHER ODYSSEY OWNERS WITH THIS ISSUE. SINCE IT'S NOT A RECALL, DEALER SHOULD FIX UNDER OUR WARRANTY. WHILE SITTING, POWER STEERING FLUID LEAKS FROM RACK AND PINION. SEALS/GASKETS, WHATEVER ELSE REASON FOR LEAK WHICH IS EXPENSIVE TO FIX. WE REPLACED A CV JOINT AT OUR EXPENSE THIS YEAR. ALL THE STEERING AND POWERTRAIN PARTS ARE LISTED UNDER POWERTRAIN ON HONDA WEBSITE'S PARTS PAGE.”

“Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2008 Honda Odyssey on April 13,2024. The sale was a private sell. The contact stated at the time of purhcase the odometer was recorded at 129,000. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the contact attempted to use the vehicle as a trade in. The contact was informed that the CARFAX report last recored the odometer reading on April 6, 2024, at 230,000.”