Small Claims Lawsuit Could Cost Honda $2 Billion

Heather Peters

When this story appeared in my feed, I knew I had to write a first person account to help people understand a few things.

First off, this woman's claim is not unfounded. I have two friends who purchased Honda Civic Hybrids only to have the batteries malfunction within a couple of years and the promised mileage was never above 35mpg.

Honda promoted these vehicles as reliable 51mpg alternatives to Toyota's extremely popular Prius.

While Toyota has faced much criticism for cars not stopping and nearly killing drivers on several occasions, most of those issues have been resolved and handled with extreme care by Toyota.

Honda insulted it's owners by offering $500-$1000 rebates on new cars and no discounts on repairing the failed battery.

The other dilemma with these Hybrids is Honda is not covering the cost of the replacement of the batteries, which are astronomical. $5,000 and up.

Here's where Heather Peters comes in. A lawyer herself, she decided not to join the fray in a huge Class Action Lawsuit claiming Honda provided false advertisement and terrible battery life. Making their Civic Hybrid nothing more than a 3000lb dead battery cart, rather than a fuel sipping, eco-friendly, mode of transportation.

Peters is not demanding the moon either. She just wants what she was promised. And since there's no proof the new Honda Hybrid solves these issues, she would like $7500 to $10,000 to offset the premium paid for the Hybrid that yielded nothing close to 51mpg. 

Because class action lawsuits spread the reward so thinly between all the claimants, her move is strategic and will produce a much higher reward to replace this car with an actual efficient vehicle. This is a great topic of conversation.

Peters has launched a website, DontSettleWithHonda.org, urging others to take the small claims route.

Read the full story here.

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