Honda Settlement: When 26 AG’s say you’re drunk, lie down

December 17th, 2009. By AbiK

No, it’s not easy being green. And now it appears a few more folks other than Kermit know that all too well. Folks that bought the Honda Civic hybrid. Seems that when the car was advertised, its mileage was touted as 49 mpg for city, 51 mpg for highway.

Now, I’m the type of fool who never checks what my mpg is. But there are people out there that do—namely, John True from Ontario. He bought that Honda Civic hybrid in March of 2007 and well, according to detnews.com, he drove it for 6,000 miles only averaging 32 mpg in “mixed city/highway driving”. A bit shy of the 49-51 mpg range touted by Honda.

So, he sued.

Honda has since settled—but here’s the kicker: 26 state Attorneys General have objected to the settlement of the class action. (If ever one of my fave sayings applied (see headline, with liberties taken), it would be now.)

But what’s at the heart of their objections? Well, here’s what the settlement terms include:

Honda would send close to 160,000 current and former Honda Civic hybrid owners a DVD containing tips on improving fuel economy. (I love this one—like the majority of folks—clearly “early adapters” on the green buying front—who bought the hybrid aren’t already in touch with how to conserve fuel. And secondly, the implication that there was some driver fault in achieving lower mpg is borderline comical.)

Honda Civic hybrid owners who trade in their car for “certain” (my quotes) Honda or Acura models could get up to a $1,000 rebate—or $100 in cash if they had made a complaint previously.

Honda Civic hybrid former owners who’ve since gotten rid of their car could receive a $500 coupon.

Your first question should be, why the quotes on “certain”? Well, that’s because the deal would exclude the Honda Fit, Honda Insight, Honda Civic hybrid and the Honda CR-Z. But aren’t those the very cars that a hybrid-lovin driver would be interested in? One would think, no? And that’s one of the beefs the Attorneys General have with the settlement.

According to the Detroit News article, the settlement covers 158,639 people who owned or leased a 2003 through 2008 Honda Civic hybrid model.

The Attorneys General also referred to the settlement’s monetary terms as “meager”—and noted that while the attorneys for the drivers will receive $2.95 million, the drivers themselves—all 158,639 of them—would be able to split a whopping total of $22,500.

As of August, US District Judge Virginia A. Phillips had granted tentative approval to the settlement—but she hasn’t addressed the Attorneys General objections as of yet. So more to come on that. But in the meantime, Honda will agree to change the wording in its advertising from “mileage may vary” to “mileage will vary”. Whoopee.

Tags: Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Settlement

This was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Emerging Issues, Settlement . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.