AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO. FAILED TO HONOR WARRANTY Torrance, California

I own (completlely paid off) 2006 Honda Pilot with approx. 23,000 miles on it. On August 27, 2008 I was traveling on the 405S at approx. 65 mph in the carpool lane with my young children, ages 9 and 5 when suddenly my car completely failed. The gas pedal locked up, the brakes locked up, no power steering, everything completely electronically shut down with no warning. I was in the carpool lane, so I gripped the steering wheel tightly so as not to slam into the center divider, then waved people around me. I put my hazards on, but since all the electrics shut off on the car I don't know that they went on. I had to wait for the car to roll to a stop on its own, call 911 and have CHP come to my family's rescue (they came immediately and also called AAA for me, and came back to check on us once they pushed us safely to the shoulder). One CHP officer on a motorcycle (my hero) stopped the traffic on the 405 and pushed us to the shoulder where we waited for AAA.

My car has been at AIRPORT MARINA HONDA in Culver City, CA (never ever take your car there, the service is AWFUL) for nearly a month. I have been given the complete run around. First I was told something "completely eletronically failed" on my vehicle and that I would need to authorize a teardown. I also wrote a letter to American Honda about my harrowing situation and they assured my everything would be fine and taken care of. Ultimately, last Wed, after having my car for nearly a month, Honda denied my warranty claim, they allege for lack of service, before I ever furnished any service records. I asked the representative if I sent over my service records would that make a difference, he said "no". How can a warranty claim be denied for lack of service before I have had an opportunity to provide proof of service? And how in the world can I cause an entire engine to fail on a virtually brand new Honda with 23,000 miles on it. They have now informed me it is nearly $8,000 to fix the car.

After jeapordizing the life of my family, Honda, a billion dollar giant corporation, has refused to fix my car. I am a single mother with two young children and I don't have $8,000 to give them to fix something that they are responsible for. They are fortunate no one was injured. I am not really sure what I am supposed to do at this point, quite frankly I am bewildered at the evil of the corporation.

Sasha R.
Culver City, California
U.S.A.