The engine-misfire year — Honda's own piston-ring program is the safety net, so read the service history before you fall for the paint.

The 2016 carries four separate federal recalls on the second-row seats, which is where most families put a child seat. Recall 16V-932 covers the second-row centre seat, whose horizontal adjuster bar can stick unlocked and let the seat slide — a failure to meet the federal seat-systems standard, and it applies to vans built in a narrow window in autumn 2016. Recall 16V-933 covers the second-row outboard seats, whose walk-in release lever can stay unlocked so the seat moves unexpectedly. Recall 17V-725 covers those same outboard seats failing to latch properly to the floor striker, so the seat can tip forward under braking. Recall 18V-170 covers the left outboard seatback free-folding after the walk-in lever is used on a fully reclined seat. All four are free, all four are fixed with brackets, springs or replacement parts, and all four are individually checkable by VIN. Do not take 'the recalls are done' on trust — check each of these four by number.

Two fuel-system recalls, both free. Recall 16V-417 covers fuel tanks built with insufficient welds that can separate and let fuel leak — a fire risk, remedied by replacing the tank outright (Honda's internal code KA9). Recall 23V-858 is the very large in-tank fuel-pump campaign that runs across most of Honda's range: the pump can fail and stall the engine while you're driving. Dealers replace the pump module free of charge; owner letters went out in September 2024. Owners of 2016 vans in the federal file describe exactly that failure, including one dealer report that a pump 'almost exploded'. Both are VIN-specific, so check both.

The 2016's sliding doors are in better shape than the years that follow, but they have their own footnotes. Honda issued a Product Update — its term for a free dealer fix that isn't a safety recall — for 110 vans whose driver's-side sliding door had three spot welds at the top left unprimed, leaving bare metal that can rust. A separate service bulletin (a TSB, or Technical Service Bulletin: the fix instructions Honda sends its dealers) covers a bad crimp in the sliding-door rear latch switch wiring that makes the door-ajar beeper sound while you drive even though the doors are properly shut. Separately, owners report rainwater getting into the rearview camera and turning the image blurry — a nuisance on this year rather than a campaign, though Honda would later recall the same failure on 2018–2020 vans. Test both doors through several full open-and-close cycles and check the camera image after rain.