Bad news for new owners enjoying their 2016 Honda Civic — it's already being recalled.
CNET spotted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing from earlier this month announcing the recall of 42,129 model year 2016 Civics that were manufactured from Sept. 22, 2015, through Feb. 3 of this year. The recall affects 2016 2.0-liter engine Civics, but not the 1.6-liter verision of the same model.
The reason? A potentially catastrophic engine failure due to the vehicles being manufactured without a needed component. Honda better pinpoint the issue on its assembly line to prevent this oversight from occurring again.
"The affected vehicles have engines with piston assemblies that may have been manufactured without a piston wrist pin circlip or with an incorrectly installed piston wrist pin circlip," the NHTSA writes in the report. "If a circlip is missing or incorrectly installed, the piston wrist pin may not be secure and may drift and damage the engine cylinder, causing the engine to seize, and increasing the risk of a crash or a fire."
The report goes on to state that the automaker will notify owners via a preliminary letter beginning March 31. From there, the parts needed are expected to be available this summer, with dealerships inspecting and replacing the piston assemblies and damaged engine components, as necessary, free of charge.
The news of the recall marks quite the 180-degree turn from just last month, when the model won the North American Car of the Year award at the 2016 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), or Detroit Auto Show. It was also named AutoGuide.com's Car of the Year and the Overall Best Buy Award Winner by Kelley Blue Book.
Despite the recall, no one could deny the Civic's sleeker, bolder design — all while still being able to give drivers 42 miles per gallon on the highway and 31 mpg of city driving.
So, while automakers' 2017 models hit roads during the second half of this year, that's when the estimated time of the recall repair will take place to fix the affected Civics' engine issue.
According to the NHTSA report, Honda's number for the Civic recall is JX9 and customers can contact the automaker's customer service line at 1-888-234-2138.
