The quiet runout year — only 39 complaints and two recalls, but the engine and torque-converter stories are the same as 2016's.

The 2017 shows the same engine story as the 2016. The 3.5-litre V6 uses VCM — Variable Cylinder Management, Honda's fuel-saving system that shuts down three of the six cylinders under light load. Those three are the rear bank, and their piston rings wear, letting oil past and fouling the plugs. Owners report a flashing check-engine light and heavy shaking, spark plugs failing one after another before 60,000 miles, and in one case an engine that seized outright at highway speed. An owner-mechanic filming his own 2017 shows the pattern exactly: he replaced the rear three spark plugs at around 65,000 miles, had the same failure again by 68,000, and found the front three plugs still clean and original. Here is the important difference from the 2016: Honda's piston-ring warranty programme, service bulletin 25-061, is cited repeatedly by 2016 owners in the federal record and does not appear on 2017 filings in this data. That is not proof the 2017 is excluded — but it does mean you should treat a 2017 engine as your own expense until a Honda dealer confirms otherwise by VIN.

The 2017's most alarming body complaints involve the power sliding doors. One owner reports the driver's-side rear sliding door falling off after its cables snapped while opening. Another describes a cable snapping mid-close, slamming the door with enough force to shake the whole van — and notes that anyone standing in the doorway would likely have been hurt. A third reports the rear sliding door opening on its own at a red light while the van was in Drive. The cables that drive these doors are wear items — a mechanic working on Odyssey doors describes them as similar to parking-brake cables, and shows a simple check for worn rollers by feeling for play at the roller. There is no recall covering this on the 2017. Open and close both doors repeatedly from the button, the handle and the key fob, and listen for grinding or clicking.

Three separate 2017 owners report the sunroof glass shattering with no impact — at 45 mph on a side road, at 40 mph with a child in the back, and once with a grandchild aboard at around 23,000 miles. In each case Honda declined to cover it, citing no active recall and no glass coverage. It is a small number of reports out of a small sample, but three in 39 is worth knowing about. Separately, one owner describes the van apparently trying to start itself in a locked garage, with dashboard lights flashing and the ignition clicking, and then being unable to shut the engine off with the button — a dealer diagnosed a faulty ignition control unit and replaced it for $1,100. Both are single-digit patterns rather than epidemics, listed here because in a 39-complaint year they are a meaningful share of what owners actually reported.