cochise49 wrote:
We tow a 2013 CRV.....love it. Sorry the 2015 isn't towable. Maybe there will be enough of a drop in sales because of that and the 2016s will again be towable. Car makers have had a change of heart before. Did Honda get a lot of warranty issues from CRV trannies perceived to be from towing?
For 2015 model year Honda has replaced the automatic transmission in several model lines with a CVT. The CRV, which shares a lot of its drive train with four-cylinder Accord, got caught up in that.
It is all about meeting the changing CAFE standards, the alternative would be to develop or buy a new 6 to 8 speed automatic, which might not be towable.
Honda did have warranty issues with the four-speed automatic once shared by Accord with everything heavier. They settled a class action suit related to premature transmission failure, extended the warranty beyond 100,000 miles on certain heavy or powerful cars (think minivan, sporty Acura models). My daughter's first Odyssey went through two transmission rebuilds in the 150,000 miles she drove it; one under extension of warranty, one she paid for.
The suit did not bring up towing issues, but the timing of "do not tow" across most of the line coincided with the settlement. Since at the time Honda switched to "CRV only" all Hondas larger than the Civic were using the same transmission, I think Honda of America just picked one model and raised the price of the car to cover anticipated warranty costs from towing failures. That model was the CRV because it was already popular with RVers.
