A number of 2023 Honda Civic Type R owners on internet forums have complained that their seats are squeaky. Now, an alleged service bulletin posted to civicxi.com, may have answered why that is, and why it’s a bigger problem than it may at first seem.
While squeaks and rattles are a cause of frustration, especially in a new car, they aren’t normally the cause of a stop sale order. But that’s what this imperfection has led to, according to the document, because it may be a sign of a much larger safety concern.
According to the dealer bulletin, which was first noticed by Autoblog, the squeak stems from the driver’s seat cushion frame assembly in certain 2023 Civic Type Rs. Ultimately, the noise is being caused by a bad weld that could break in the event of an accident, causing the vehicle’s safety systems not to work as intended, and increasing the likelihood of an injury.
Read: Thousands Of Tesla Model Ys May Have Seats That Weren’t Secured Correctly
We have reached out to Honda to confirm the authenticity of the document, and are awaiting their response. However, it claims that the automaker has issued a stop sale and a safety recall on certain examples of the car.
The document was filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on March 30. Although no information has yet appeared on the regulator’s website with regards to this recall, it’s not uncommon for it to take a few days before such fillings are made public.
As a result, it is not yet clear how many vehicles are being recalled, and a VIN check may not yet say with 100 percent accuracy whether an owner should await a recall repair. Once they are sure, it may still take a little while before the seats can be fixed, because the dealer communication states that the parts necessary for it aren’t yet available. It is unclear when they will be ready for implementation. Honda says it will begin notifying owners of the issue in mid-May, though.
