2019 HONDA FIT — Complaint #1766039
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL filed August 31, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1766039 (ODI reference 11431263) concerns a 2019 HONDA FIT and was filed on August 31, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 11, 2021. The report was geocoded to Florida based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as equipment:electrical, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same HONDA FIT cohort independently describe similar equipment:electrical failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2019 HONDA FIT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The Towed Battery Charger Plus (TBC+) manufactured by RVIBrake.com (DBA: Danco) of Castle Rock, CO 80109, was installed on our Honda Fit, prior to a vacation in May 2021. While heading back to our home in Florida on July 11 2021, on Interstate 84 near Matamoras, PA, we started smelling burnt plastic. We pulled off the highway and noticed the burnt smell coming from under our hood. Upon opening the hood we could see the TBC+ smoldering. The result of this aftermarket component (TBC+) failing caused an under hood fire, which melted plastic components on the Honda Fit. This TBC+ also shorted, resulting in sending excess voltage and current to the electrical components on the Honda fit. This resulted in our alternator failing. As it is a fire hazard, I would like all TBC+ modules manufactured by RVIBrake.com to be recalled and all owners of this module get compensated for any expenses resulting from this device.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1766039 |
| ODI Number | 11431263 |
| Date Filed | August 31, 2021 |
| Failure Date | July 11, 2021 |
| VIN | 3HGGK5G86KM |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.