2013 Honda Insight

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

I have had a 2013 Honda Insight since September 2024 and I have complained about excessive oil consumption since October 2024.This past Saturday my car stopped on the highway when I tried to accelerate. It was towed to Honda and the diagnostic comes back as piston ring replacement with spark plugs. Last November I had 2 spark plugs replaced and my ignition coils. There was an ESB put out by Honda but I was not the current owner then so Honda doesn’t want to cover the cost. I also have contacted the dealership, that is not a certified reseller of Honda, mark Sweeney Buick of Cincinnati, Ohio but since I signed an As Is contract they stated they wouldn’t assist. The first week I got the car there were problems. I feel like mark Sweeney didn’t fully check their car before it was sold. Honda clearly saw that customers were having issues with the oil consumption, otherwise they wouldn’t have put out an 2 ESBs in the first place. I’d really like some assistance on this problem if possible. Attached will be both quotes, 1 from Nov 2024 were actually work was done and the other is what currently needs to be fixed on the car, mainly the piston rings and spark plugs.

NHTSA ID

11700069

Incident

Nov 15, 2025

Noticed decreased performance & frequent oil changes in 2015. At first, I did not know the weak engine performance was related to the oil consumption & was never offered diagnostic testing until May 2023 across multiple Honda shops in different states. With this, I was under the impression that my car was performing within normal limits. Finally in May 2023 the local Honda shop recommended the proper diagnostic test & told me about the known piston/oil consumption defect known to this model & the (expired) warranty extension that was associated with it. I returned end of Aug 2023 to get results of my oil consumption test, which was positive. At this time, they quoted me a repair cost (to change out the piston rings, gaskets, & spark plugs) but I had to defer due to the high cost. The service representative that day happened to be rude/dismissive & also did not tell me how urgent this repair is or what the consequences of not repairing could be. I have been driving my car in the local area/mainly on surface streets while waiting for the service manager to get back to me about appealing to Honda USA for a goodwill repair. In the interim, my car suddenly & randomly stopped working while on the road. Just started shuddering, engine lost power & could not go more than 10 mph. 4 engine lights came on (check emissions, steering, VSA, hill assist systems). No real warning beforehand, I had been living with this defect undiagnosed for years. I was fortunately on a small streets at night when there was no traffic, so I did not lose power with other cars around, but had this happened on a busy/fast road, it could have easily caused an accident.

NHTSA ID

11554741

Incident

Nov 4, 2023

The contact owns a 2013 Honda Insight. The contact stated that vehicle failed to respond after shifting the transmission to the desired gear. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact also stated that the vehicle failed to accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed with a defective CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 102,000.

NHTSA ID

11538658

Incident

Jun 1, 2023

Mileage

102,000 mi

I experienced "rough running" of my 2013 Honda Insight just prior to August of 2021. Initial work on the vehicle helped, but repairs became increasingly expensive and extensive. EX: A simple oil change on about 8/2/2021 (mileage at 64,545). At about mileage 68,370 the vehicle failed again (showing check engine light / stalling); repair shop found a misfire on cylinder #4, and all 8 of the spark plugs were replaced.  Then on/about Nov./2022 (mileage at 71,988), the vehicle was running rough again (with check engine light on) and the repair shop found a miss in cylinder #4 again, and then replaced cylinder #4  spark plugs and coils. On/about Feb./2023, the vehicle had more problems (running rough) and then the repair shop found a misfire on #4 again (spark plug was replaced.) On/about 5/18/2023, I took my vehicle in for a routine oil change. About two days later, on/about 5/20/2023, I (along with my girlfriend) drove on the freeway for a long trip. We had only been on the freeway for a few miles when the engine died. I had accelerated to 75 m.p.h. on a slight upgrade and was in the process of setting the cruise control when the engine revved up to 4,000 r.p.m.'s (as if it was climbing a steep hill); several warning lights showed up on the dashboard.  I immediately disengaged the cruise control while in the left lane and (thankfully due to no vehicles being near us) was able to get the vehicle off to the right edge of the freeway. The vehicle had no power. I called a tow truck and the driver attempted to drive the Honda Insight onto his ramp (with thick smoke billowing out of the exhaust pipe) but it was only able to go half the car length up the ramp. At first, I was told it needed 2 spark plugs and was fixed. I reminded them that all 8 had recently been replaced; they then said no compression on #2 / that engine was dead. Took it to Honda; diagnosed it as the oil consumption issue. Check lights are for systems: emmission, brake, VSA, w/ various other lights on dash.

NHTSA ID

11525650

Incident

May 20, 2023

The contact owns 2013 Honda Insight. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered. Additionally, the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of engine oil. The contact stated that the engine was consuming 3-4 quarts of oil per 1,000 miles driven. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who performed an oil change. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000.

NHTSA ID

11521510

Incident

Mar 15, 2022

Mileage

92,000 mi

I have owned my Honda Insight for almost 10 years now. I bought it because it has great MPG. But this year has been horrible for it. It suddenly lost power while I was driving on the highway. Luckily I was able to move over to the side, and traffic was not too heavy at the time. Checkered Flag Honda in Virginia Beach, VA performed a TSB on it, and again two months ago, stating the exact same repair to be done each time. Now, it is displaying the very same symptoms I took it in for the first time, AGAIN. I will be uploading those reciepts as soon as I can find them tomorrow. After looking online, it is very obvious that I am not the only one with this same problem that could possibly endanger drivers. Honda has failed for over 10 years to find the manufacturer defect in the 2010-2014 Honda Insights, and have been issuing repeated TSBs, with only minor deviations stating the same repair to be performed (details below). I confirmed in CarComplaints.com and InsightCentral.net, that Honda is indeed screwing people over on this. A compiled TSB history and detailed list are available in a shared excel file from my Google Drive here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lO7Z4vrtbtS9EzqW-PPwutNHTc4IPA2r/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107278015992975669585&rtpof=true&sd=true My guess is this could end up being a class action Lawsuit, judging by the responses of some of these folks in the forums. If you have any possibility of helping us with this, please do. And God Bless. -[XXX], USN (ret.) INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ID

11514718

Incident

Mar 31, 2023

2013 Honda Insight Hybrid LX (4 cylinder) vehicle purchased on 8/19/14. thanks This complaint is was filed to due engine oil consumption on my Honda-hybrid. In 2020 my car began losing oil quite frequently as I was having to add or change the oil often. On 8/27/21 I took the vehicle to Honda of Downtown Los Angeles, Kesean Zachary informed me they would need to perform an engine oil consumption test and change the oil. Soon after that the car was again losing oil so I returned it to Honda of Downtown on 11/18/21, where Kesean checked the oil with the dipstick and informed that there was no oil consumption. A month later, the car was still losing oil.. this is my work car and I needed to get this problem resolved.. so I decided to take it back to where I purchased the car, Honda of Hollywood on 3/23/22. I spoke with Willie PIttman who informed me they would need to perform another engine oil consumption test and change the oil. He said to me, drive the vehicle for 1,000 miles and bring the car back - this was on a Wednesday, and on Saturday 3/26/22 I told my wife we were going for a drive to see how the car runs. We drove a 52 miles when we decided to head back home, we drove another 11 miles when the vehicle stalled on the 101-fwy in the City of Camarillo, the car just died while driving in the 2nd lane I veered to the right to try to make it to the shoulder but the car only idled over two more lanes to the right and died in the 4th lane, that's when my wife really panic. I had to replace the engine because the piston rings were all black carbon burnt which were burning the oil. Replaced the Electrical and the regular batteries . Replaced two emission exhausted sensors and also the computer.

NHTSA ID

11481912

Incident

Mar 26, 2022

We were driving our Honda in a 70mph zone and the car's speed suddenly dropped to 15mph. We were not able to drive any faster than 15mph and could have been killed while driving on a highway where other cars were driving at 70mph, or we could have caused a pile up of cars with multiple accidents. We were very lucky that we were able to pull over to the side of the highway before another car hit us. We were not even able to drive to an exit, and had to sit on the side of a busy highway for nearly 3 hours as we waited for a tow truck. Multiple warning lights came on at the same time the speed of the car suddenly dropped. Warning lights for most systems on the car starting flashing at this point, but not in advance to warn us. We had the car towed to a local mechanic and he told us that a piston in the engine had failed completely and the engine would need to be rebuilt. We contacted Honda on the first business day after our engine failed, which was Monday, November 15. The engine in our car is currently under an extended warranty with Honda because of problems with the pistons and engine. It was not part of a recall, but definitely should have been! Instead, Honda called it a "customer preference". Honda admitted to us on the phone that this was part of the "customer preference" and that the Honda dealer should repair the engine as part of the extended warranty; however, it has been nearly a month since our initial call to Honda and they still have not authorized the work. We have called them approximately 15-20 times in the past month and they continue to evade our calls by telling us that "a manager will get back to us". We have been told this repair will cost approximately $10,000, and therefore, it's not an option for us to just pay for the repair ourselves. Honda is aware of this safety issue, they have not issued a recall for it and they clearly have no intention of honoring their warranty for this issue. As consumers, we don't know what to do.

NHTSA ID

11443269

Incident

Nov 13, 2021

Service Bulletin - Warranty Extension: Customer Support Program For Driver's Airbag Inflator for 2007-11 CR-V and Other Listed Years and Models.

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2011-2016 CR-Zs, 2010-2014 Insights, & 2011-2017 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the brake pedal feeling soft or spongy when depressed, almost reaching the floor. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect specific parts from the vehicle prior to any repair attempts.

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2011-2016 CR-Zs, 2010-2014 Insights, & 2011-2017 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the brake pedal feeling soft or spongy when depressed, almost reaching the floor. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect specific parts from the vehicle prior to any repair attempts.

"Service Bulletin - There are several A/C leak detection tools available. -Refrigerant Gas Leak Detector -Ultrasonic Leak Detector -Leak Dye"

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2011-2016 CR-Zs, 2010-2014 Insights, & 2011-2017 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the brake pedal feeling soft or spongy when depressed, almost reaching the floor. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect specific parts from the vehicle prior to any repair attempts.

Dealer Message - American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) is searching for certain 2011-2016 CR-Zs, 2010-2014 Insights, & 2011-2017 Odysseys with a customer complaint of the brake pedal feeling soft or spongy when depressed, almost reaching the floor. To better understand the cause of this condition, AHM would like to collect specific parts from the vehicle prior to any repair attempts.