This past week, my car, for the second time within a year, had to go back to the shop for maintenance and repairs due to water leaking into the gas tank.

I bought this car (Civic Sedan LX 2012) on February 4, 2012. I only have a little over 5,000 miles on it because I mostly only use it to commute to work during the weekdays. One of the reasons I bought a Honda car instead of any other, was because of its high standard and reputation. I’ve heard that Honda cars don’t break down easily and almost never give the owner any trouble.

On September 2, 2012, I was in my car with my boyfriend and his friend to go get some lunch. After going about 5 blocks or so, he suddenly remembered that he forgot something at home, so I had to make a U-turn and go back home. On the way back, the car slowly puttered to a stop. Naturally, I thought it was because I was out of gas or something, but when I looked at the gas meter, it was more than half full. I started up the car again, and although the engine turned on, the car was shaking by itself...until it again sputtered to a halt. I tried starting the engine a few more time but after a few more tries, it was futile. Luckily at that time, there weren’t too many cars around and there was miraculously a parking space nearby, so the two guys managed to push the car safely into that spot. I called my insurance company (Geico) and they towed my car two days later and took it back to the dealer.

After they inspected the car, they found that water had gotten into the gas tank. They suspected that it was from a bad gas station who pumped water along with their gas. I’ve been going to the same place near my house ever since I bought this car, and nothing like this ever happened before. My family, friends and co-workers all blamed Honda for a manufacture defect, but even though I felt bad about this case, I didn’t blame Honda at all and in fact, finished off paying off for the car this past January 8th – 11 months after I bought the car, and much earlier than the initial 3 year plan I signed up for. The total cost for repairs came out to $1632.34, but even though Geico covered $1085.23 of it, I still had to pay $547.11 out of my own pocket for an accident I didn’t even take part in.

Then again, on January 14, I turned on the car to go to work, just like any other day, and the car shook in the familiar manner of last October, before it stopped. I got the car towed and taken back to the dealer. Surprise, surprise, they said that there was water in the gas tank. What I’d like to know is how so much water could possibly get into the tank to make the car want to stop. I realize that the night before this happened, it rained a lot in my neighborhood, but surely, it couldn’t have all gotten into my car… One of the repairmen suspected that someone poured water into the gas tank on purpose. Only I have the key to my car – why would I want to do something as stupid as pouring water into my car, not once, but twice, and have to go through all this trouble and waste a ton of money? It also couldn’t have been an outside job, because by the hole where you put gas nozzle, there’s no scratch mark or any visible proof that someone tried to break in to do something bad on purpose.

Because of this, not only was I late to work, but so was my sister who works in the same office I do. She was with me in the car at that time and is still suffering from being scared due to the car’s convulsions. In both cases, luckily the car stopped near my house, or rather, in a vicinity without too many cars. God knows what could have happened if the car chose to stop on the highway. The technician who looked at my car was dumbfounded as to how something like this could happen, not once, but twice. I suspect that this second time was due to bad workmanship last time by someone who was working on my car and left a hole for water to drip and accumulate. There’s no other explanation.

I bought the newest model of this Honda car because I wanted the best of the best. If I didn’t care too much about having to take care of my car breaking down every so often, I would have bought a used car at a much more affordable price. Because of these incidents, my insurance fee went up from 1,936.42 to 1,981.85, but more than that, now I have a phobia about driving, because I don’t know when or where my car might stop. It’s not even a year old and I’ve kept it in good condition. There’s no reason for this. The first time this happened in January, I had to take the bus from my home in Flushing back and forth to work (in the Bronx) every day for about two weeks since my car was in the shop getting repaired, and now it looks like I need to do that again. The top reason for buying the car in the first place was to help me commute to work, but if it cannot fulfill that purpose, it’s pretty much of no use to me. I don’t wish to waste any more money paying for stuff like this.

I am appealing to you for monetary compensation for emotional damage including a phobia in driving my car and I would like my car recalled since neither I nor anyone else could possibly want to drive it ever.

I feel we have bought a death trap. For the second time, the 2012 Civic stalled while I was driving around 30 mph. This time I was going down an incline. Perhaps I stepped on the brake to slow down as the Honda owner from Jopelin, MO has reported--I am not sure. The care stalled out on the road, leaving me with no steering. I was fortunate I was not rear-ended. We brought it to the dealership--Mike Piazza in Langhorne, PA--they could find nothing wrong with it.

Then a second time I was driving along at around 30 mph and realized I had no power. The car stopped right on the road. I had no steering. I stopped right after a curve in the road, so cars behind had to swerve not to hit me.

Dealership and Honda America says the stall if caused by any touch to the break peddal when accelerating. I've almost been rear-ended x4 and t-boned x2.

This car is unsafe for a beginner or a person wanting quicker reaction time, i.e. at stop, ready to go into traffic, car will stall with the slightest touch of the brake pedal. Honda says it is in the design and I told them it is an accident wating to happen. I fear it is a design defect that will get someone killed very soon...they say a safety feature...for what? No mention of this "feature" when purchased.