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NHTSA defect investigation · Preliminary Evaluation

Honda preliminary evaluation PE22001

Rear-View Camera Failure. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the back over prevention on 2 model years (2017–2018). Opened Feb 7, 2022, closed Dec 19, 2022 after 10 months. It led to safety recall 22V867000. became a recall

What NHTSA says

Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filed

On February 7, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE22-001) to assess alleged failures of the rear-view camera (RVC) in 2017-2018 Model Year Honda Ridgeline vehicles. At this time, ODI has received a total of 107 complaints with allegations of the RVC image failing to display when the vehicle was in reverse. The RVC wire harness is manufactured with a protective corrugated tubing and harness guide to help mitigate stress on the RVC wire harness when the tailgate was opened and closed. Honda determined the length of corrugated tubing inserted into the harness guide was insufficient to provide optimal protection for the wire harness. This lack of protection for RVC wire harness led to severe wire harness damage that ultimately led to the failure of the RVC image to display due to a lack of connectivity. On November 23, 2022, Honda filed a defect information report recalling all 2017-2019MY Honda Ridgeline vehicles. The dealer will replace the RVC tailgate harness with an improved wire harness that has longer corrugated tubing to protect the wire harness. In view of the recall action being taken by Honda, 22V-867, ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation. NHTSA reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. The ODI reports cited above are available to review at NHTSA.gov under the following ODI identification numbers:11206191, 11298458, 11319870, 11329993, 11341373, 11343035, 11343035, 11343441, 11350026, 11350162, 11361959, 11362378, 11362758, 11363268, 11372604, 11373525, 11374112, 11388328, 11395026, 11397565, 11397936, 11398930, 11399178, 11400366, 11403360, 11403368, 11404149, 11408414, 11413184, 11415248, 11415847, 11417394, 11419669, 11420068, 11422394, 11422938, 11428514, 11431246, 11437880, 11438172, 11440548, 11441551, 11443328, 11447502, 11448600, 11449291, 11450413, 11451727, 11451728, 11451753, 11451793, 11451847, 11451959, 11452077, 11452433, 11452769, 11453044, 11453189, 11453403, 11453442, 11453622, 11455106, 11456922, 11456929, 11457013, 11457158, 11457908, 11458258, 11458430, 11458861, 11459046, 11459437, 11459517, 11460875, 11461017, 11461047, 11461083, 11461652, 11462082, 11462401, 11462703, 11464525, 11464749, 11465214, 11466731, 11466931, 11470232, 11470656, 11470768, 11471427, 11471889, 11471950, 11472343, 11472927, 11473801, 11473970, 11476348, 11479379, 11479629, 11480475, 11482614, 11484718, 11485708, 11485720, 11485774, 11485930, 11486546

Stage Preliminary Evaluation — NHTSA works to complete one within eight months Opened Feb 7, 2022 Closed Dec 19, 2022 Manufacturer Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) Components Back Over Prevention, Back Over Prevention › Sensing System › Camera Resulting recall 22V867000

A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.

The paperwork NHTSA filed

Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov
DocumentCodeFiledAt NHTSA
Opening resumeINOA2022PDF
Closing resumeINCLA2022PDF
Information request to the manufacturerINIM2022PDF
Manufacturer's response — dataINRD2022PDF
Manufacturer's response — full submissionINRL2022PDF

These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.

What owners had already reported

Source: complaints on file the day it opened

When NHTSA opened this on Feb 7, 2022, owners had filed 242 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 19 named the back over prevention NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.

This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.

What this means for an owner

Source: and what happens next

An investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.

This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Model years it names

Source: as NHTSA filed them

A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.

Common questions

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Is PE22001 a recall?

No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 22V867000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.

Is PE22001 still open?

No. It closed on Dec 19, 2022 and led to recall 22V867000.

Which vehicles does PE22001 cover?

NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2018 Honda Ridgeline, 2017 Honda Ridgeline. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.