2018 Honda Odyssey: seat belt won't latch or retract

Filed Nov 5, 2026 · Electrical · FL

Water intrusion from cracks on the seam sealant on the roof, rear of the drivers side make the 3rd row seatbelt get wet and the tailgate lock to fail. Tailgate button is not operational and tailgate locks/unlocks randomly after rains.

Filed Sep 4, 2026 · Locks · 60,000 miles · MD

The contact owns a 2018 Honda Odyssey. The contact stated that the rear liftgate was inoperable and had to be unlocked through the emergency release in the trunk. Additionally, the contact stated that the rear window seal was significantly fractured. A message that the tailgate was inoperable was displayed accompanied by a chime that was heard inside and outside the vehicle while driving. The contact stated that the message was displayed after a rainstorm. Additionally, while the contact's son was using the seat belt, the contact became aware that the passenger’s side third-row seat belt and seat belt retractor housing attached to the roof were wet. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the tailgate printed circuit board for the locking mechanism was corroded, and the motor had failed. The vehicle was scheduled for the repair. Additionally, the dealer referred the contact to an auto body service center to determine where the water was entering the vehicle. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

Filed Jul 29, 2026 · Seat belts · MD · 1 injury

While my child was riding in the second row drivers side captains chair of my 2018 Odyssey, she fell asleep and unknowingly moved the shoulder strap portion of the seat belt behind her head/ upper body. I was driving and could not see that the belt had been moved because she was seated behind me and was also covered by a blanket. After the vehicle was parked, she unbuckled the seat belt and attempted to exit the vehicle. As she got out, the seat belt retracted and tightened around her abdomen and torso, trapping her against her seat. The belt became extremely tight and we were unable to free her after 20 minutes of struggling to create slack and slide her out.The pressure from the belt cause visible injuries to her abdomen. Because we could not safely release her, we were forced to cut the seat belt. The damaged seat belt was inspected by a Honda dealership, which recommended replacement of the entire seat assembly, costing $3,000. Honda customer relations was also notified and provided us with a case number. I am submitting this report because a child was trapped by the seat belt during normal vehicle use, requiring the belt to be cut to safely free her.

Filed Jun 25, 2026 · Seat belts · NC · 1 injury

On 4/30/26 my 10 year old son was sitting in the middle row behind the driver buckled in his seatbelt. The middle row, middle seatbelt (that comes down from ceiling) got wrapped around his neck and kept tightening. He yelled for help. I was driving and saw in my rearview mirror that my son was being pulled up by his neck from the seatbelt in the ceiling. I pulled into a shopping center immediately to try to help him. I could not reach down in between the seats to unhook it because the more I tried to release him, the more it would tighten. That seatbelt requires a tool to be pressed into the lock to release it and the more I tried to get to the seatbelt to unfasten it the more it was tightening and pulling my son up (he was literally starting to hang from the ceiling). I unhooked his seatbelt so he could push himself up to try to release some of the tension around his neck. I wound up running into a Michaels store screaming that I needed scissors because my son was hanging from a seatbelt. She gave me scissors and I went back out and cut the seatbelt to release my son from the seatbelt noose around his neck. He had red marks around his neck afterwards. I still have the cut seatbelt and the other half retracted into the ceiling. Research has confirmed that there have been other reports of issues with children having to be cut out of seatbelts due to the Automatic Locking Retractor (ALR) in Honda Odysseys, model years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and my model 2018. I called Honda corporate on 6/8/26 and filed a complaint. I was told I would receive an email response. I have not received an email or any response. So I called Honda corporate again on 6/25/26 and was told someone would reach out to me, but they could not tell me anything over the phone at that time. I made an appointment at my Honda dealership to have the seatbelt replaced, but have been waiting on a response from Honda corporate before doing any repairs.

Filed May 28, 2026 · Driver assistance · CT

The vehicle started to have failing sensors all of a sudden. I tried a new battery but the codes returned. all ADAS systems tied to the camera module all went out. I had 5-7 warning lights for all driving functions. additionally the seat belt buckle is not always clicking in properly. the belt about half the time is not retained in the buckle section.

Filed May 8, 2023 · Seat belts · NM

The third row seat belt latch constantly gets stuck when lowering the driver side seats down. It has bent over time and it finally broke in half. We constantly try to move it to be safe but as the driver side seats go down, they catch the passenger side seat and pull the seatbelt latch with it. It results in the latch part being crushed between the seats. It was still usable up until this weekend when it got caught again and broke the latch completely.

Filed Sep 2, 2021 · Seat belts · FL

The plastic seatbelt buckle in the third row cracked apart. No one damaged this buckle, the vehicle was not in a crash, it appears to be defective.

Filed Dec 11, 2017 · Seat belts · 2,000 miles · CA · 1 injury

My son was in his car seat in second row behind driver's seat when he grabbed the seatbelt of the middle seat that attaches to the roof and wrapped around his neck. He started coughing when we noticed that he had wrapped the seatbelt around his neck we stooped the car and I went back to take him out but the seatbelt was locked and there is no way to unlock the seatbelt so we had to cut the seatbelt in order to take him out of it. I tried to complain at honda but they said nothing can be done as its the design of the vehicle and they can't do anything. But to me its really very dangerous we were lucky we saw him but a child can easily die because its so easy for any child to grab that seatbelt.I have attached the pic where it shows how that seatbelt works first it locks into 1 and then into the 2 latch. The 1 latch cannot be unlocked.