Honda preliminary evaluation PE25018
Inadvertent Deployment of Side Air Bags. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the air bags on 5 model years (2018–2022). Opened Oct 28, 2025, closed Jun 25, 2026 after 8 months. It led to safety recall 26V227000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn October 28, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened PE25018 to investigate complaints of inadvertent deployment of the side curtain and/or side thorax air bags. These complaints concern model year (MY) 2018-2022 Honda Odyssey vehicles manufactured by American Honda Motor Co. (Honda). Honda issued recall 26V227 on April 9, 2026, to address concerns of inadvertent side air bag deployment. In the recall filing, the company stated that “[a]s of April 2, 2026, Honda has had 130 warranty claims, 25 reports of an injury, and no reports of death related to this issue from January 24, 2017 – April 2, 2026.” Honda states that the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) Electronic Control Unit (ECU) contains incorrect deployment parameters for the side thorax and side curtain air bags, which may cause inadvertent deployment when the vehicle encounters strong road impacts, such as driving over potholes, speed bumps, or road debris. Honda stated that the SRS control logic for the second and third rows of seating contained an insufficient deployment threshold margin, allowing signal inputs to be misinterpreted as side impacts and causing inadvertent deployment of the side thorax and side curtain air bags. Recall 26V227 states that dealers will reprogram or replace the SRS ECU with improved air bag deployment parameters. Consumers received notice of this recall in late May 2026. In view of the recall being conducted by Honda, ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation (PE). The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
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- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2025 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2025 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2025 | |
| Manufacturer's response — data | INRD | 2025 | 31 files 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 |
| Manufacturer's response — full submission | INRL | 2025 | 2 files 12 |
| Memo granting a response extension | INRE | 2025 | |
| Filed document | INOV | 2025 | |
| Correspondence | INOT | 2025 | 2 files 12 |
40 of 45 documents shown; the rest are under this number at nhtsa.gov.
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 openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Oct 28, 2025, owners had filed 3,403 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 61 named the air bags 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 nextAn 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 themA 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 InvestigationIs PE25018 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 26V227000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE25018 still open?
No. It closed on Jun 25, 2026 and led to recall 26V227000.
Which vehicles does PE25018 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 5 model years: 2022 Honda Odyssey, 2021 Honda Odyssey, 2020 Honda Odyssey, 2019 Honda Odyssey, 2018 Honda Odyssey. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.