Andy Shea’s 2017 Honda Pilot had only 56,000 miles on it when the engine gave out, triggering a fight with Honda that stretched on for a year before the automaker agreed to replace it for free. Shea finally picked up his repaired SUV this week at Ourisman Honda of Bethesda, a moment he described as surreal after months of pushing back against a company that initially told him no.
The ordeal began when Shea’s daughter, Ellie Shea, heard an unusual sound coming from the SUV, according to WJLA. She said she immediately knew something was wrong, and the engine failure that followed left the family facing a repair bill estimated at nearly $25,000. When the Sheas asked Honda to cover the cost, the automaker initially declined, the station reports.
That denial set off a yearlong campaign that eventually drew in two members of Congress. After the I-Team’s 2025 reporting on the case, Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Chris Van Hollen both contacted Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeking answers. Raskin sent Honda six questions about the engine failure and the company’s decision not to cover the repair, per the same report.
Congress Applies Pressure, Honda Reverses Course
The pressure campaign worked. Honda told Raskin in a letter that it would recover the engine from Shea’s Pilot and replace it with a new one at no cost, a reversal that came only after the lawmakers’ intervention and the station’s continued coverage. Honda said a detailed inspection of the engine in Shea’s vehicle may help advance its analysis of a broader market issue it is still investigating, though the company said that probe remains ongoing and it had no further information to share.
Shea credited the outreach from 7News, Van Hollen and Raskin with making a major difference in his case, and he thanked I-Team reporter Scott Taylor for staying with the story. Van Hollen said the broader investigation into the engine problems should be completed quickly and with maximum public transparency. Raskin went further, saying Congress may need to examine how long these safety investigations are allowed to drag on, and that lawmakers should legislate an aggressive timeline if necessary.
A Federal Probe Covering Millions of Vehicles
Shea’s Pilot is one data point in a much larger federal inquiry. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating connecting-rod-bearing failure reports involving more than 1.4 million Honda and Acura vehicles, and as of the I-Team’s reporting, those vehicles were not subject to any recall. NHTSA told the I-Team the investigation could take a year or longer to resolve. A preliminary evaluation document from the agency describes the inquiry as covering engine failures tied to connecting-rod-bearing problems in certain Honda and Acura models using the 3.5-liter V6 engine, and specifies that it falls outside the scope of Honda’s earlier recall, numbered 23V-751, according to NHTSA.
That earlier action, a 2023 multi-model connecting-rod recall, covered 248,999 Honda and Acura vehicles, including a 2017 Honda Ridgeline and vehicles from other model years, but did not include 2017 Pilots like Shea’s, the I-Team previously reported. In its own release announcing that recall, Honda said a manufacturing defect in the engine crankshaft could cause the connecting-rod bearing to prematurely wear and seize, warning that a seized bearing can damage the engine, cause it to stall or stop while driving, or fail to start, raising the risk of fire, a crash or injury. The remedy at the time called for dealers to inspect affected vehicles and repair or replace the engine when necessary.
Reports of Crashes and Fires, But No Deaths
The scale of the complaints behind the current investigation is notable. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation had received 414 reports of connecting-rod-bearing problems as of November 2023, according to CBS News, which also reported that the agency has recorded no deaths or injuries tied to the failures. The reported engine failures have included incidents while driving as well as seven documented crashes or fires, per the I-Team’s reporting.
Honda has maintained that its investigation into the broader issue is still active, telling the I-Team it has no further information to share while that work continues. The I-Team said it will keep pressing both Honda and NHTSA for answers about what the investigation ultimately means for the nearly 1.4 million Honda and Acura vehicles still potentially affected.
For Shea, the outcome arrived only after months of uncertainty, congressional letters and sustained media attention turned a corporate no into a free engine. He drove away from Ourisman Honda of Bethesda this week with the repair finally behind him, even as the larger question of what Honda’s nationwide investigation will mean for other owners remains unresolved.
