Honda's 2016 Civic is, by and large, a lovely car. Our first take looked upon it favorably, and it won the North American Car of the Year award at the Detroit auto show. But it's clearly not perfect -- or, at least, Honda's assembly processes aren't, as it's already being recalled.
The Japanese automaker is recalling 42,129 examples of its shiny new sedan (equipped with the 2.0-liter engine, not the 1.6) over concerns of catastrophic engine failure. Apparently, the vehicles under recall are either missing or have an incorrectly installed piston wrist pin snap ring.
If the piston's wrist pin isn't secure, it may damage the engine's cylinder walls, which would seize the whole assembly and require replacement. And nobody wants to swap the engine on a brand-new car.
Once Honda receives the replacement parts, which should happen this summer, it will inspect every recalled vehicle and replace piston assemblies as necessary. Notifications will be sent out via snail mail starting in mid-March.
