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Sometimes a car just works. You turn the key, well, push the button now, and it fires to life with the quiet confidence of a machine built by people who care. The doors line up, the glass seals, the paint glistens, and the only wind you hear comes from the highway, not the windshield.
Honda has made a career out of building those kinds of cars. But sometimes, even for Honda, something goes wrong. Not catastrophically, not in a blaze of transmission fluid and bent valves, but quietly, subtly. Like a missing plug under the carpet or a bad swipe of adhesive on a trim panel. That’s what happened to Reddit user u/davidsegura:
“Let me start by saying my wife and I are both loyal Honda owners. We have owned a 2006 Honda Civic, a 2021 Accord Sport in SNP, and a 2021 Accord Sport in PWP. We were not impressed with how the 2023 Accord looked so we decided to trade in both of our 2021's Accords for the last of the 10th gen. We settled on buying another pair of 2022 Accord Sports, both with the 2.0T package.
We've been planning a move from Texas to Colorado for over a year now, and this summer was going to be when it happened. In May, we decided we needed something more rugged for Colorado and settled on the 2026 Passport TSE.
On May 21, I went to my local Honda dealer to see what I could get my hands on, but apparently, Houston wasn't a buyer's market. Few were in stock and prices were at MSRP. We were specific on either the Ash Green or the Sonic Gray with Gray interior, but our Honda dealer didn't expect the trim and colors we wanted for several weeks or months. With the help of Reddit, I got a recommendation for Roush Honda in Ohio and I fired off an email for a quote.
May 22, we got a quote back from Roush and it was great. We put down a deposit and made travel plans.
May 23, my family and I flew to Ohio.
On May 24, we arrived at Roush Honda and had our keys in about an hour, and also bought a Honda Care 8Y/100K miles. We then started our road trip back to Texas and noticed wind noise coming in the front windshield almost immediately. We would handle this when we were back in Texas
https://www.reddit.com/r/hondapassport/comments/1kw1eso/new_2026_trailsport_elite_from_roush_honda/
May 25, we spent the day at Mammoth Cave National Park, and onward to Nashville, where I caught a flight back to Houston for work. My wife and son would continue the road trip without me.
May 27, my wife and son hit up Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas
May 29, my wife and son made it home. I hand-washed the Passport and took it to our Honda Service Department to address the wind noise and to install some accessories. This ends the longest stretch that we had the Passport in our garage.
May 30, Body Side Moldings were installed by the Honda Service Department
https://www.reddit.com/r/hondapassport/comments/1l09eyw/2026_tse_with_pilot_body_side_moldings/
May 31 - June 2, Running Boards and Scuff Plate installed by the Honda Service Department
https://www.reddit.com/r/hondapassport/comments/1l10bku/2026_tse_running_boards_and_scuff_plate/
June 3, I was told the Passport was ready and that the wind noise was normal. I picked up the Passport and brought it home only to notice that the body side molding that was installed was not installed properly, it was crooked and not aligned properly, as well as paint was coming off.
June 4, I spent $70 to buy a microphone and tracked down the wind noise to the windshield not being sealed
https://www.reddit.com/r/hondapassport/comments/1l3g108/2026_honda_passport_trailsport_elite_wind_noise/
June 5, I contacted Honda Customer Service to make a complaint on the poor diagnosis from the Honda Service Department.
June 6, Honda Service Department Manager had me bring in the Passport and agreed that the noise was not normal and that it would be repaired. Additionally, I told them to remove the incorrectly installed body-side molding.
June 10, I went to pick it up and while I was in the Service Department I noticed the removal of the Body Side Molding. There was adhesive residue left on the door panels, and the technicians thought it was a good idea to rub it off, which only led to scratches on all my door panels. They could not complete the windshield replacement as one was being shipped and it would be a few days.
June 12, I returned the Passport to the Honda Service Department as I was leaving the country for a few days. This was when my wife and son should have been taking a road trip to Colorado, which was now postponed.
June 19, I spent my wife's birthday picking up the Passport and taking it to American Detail to repair the scratches on the door panels. Honda was going to have their approved body shop do the work, but I declined as I was not impressed with the service up to this point.
June 24, I picked up the Passport from American Detail. In addition to repairing the doors, they added PPF to the hood, front bumper, and side mirrors, as well as a ceramic tint on all windows, windshield, and panoramic sunroof.
June 25 - 27, wife and son took a road trip to the beach at Padre Island
June 27, while removing the all-weather floor mats to get the sand out, I noticed the front passenger carpet was wet
https://www.reddit.com/r/hondapassport/comments/1lmduy7/2026_tse_passenger_leak_and_soaked_carpet/
June 28, back to Honda Service Department. They pulled up the carpet and the floorboard was soaked. It wasn't just the carpet. Also on this day, I bought a 2025 Civic Sport for my son (probably a mistake)
On June 30, the Honda Service Department manager found the issue with the water ingress. There was a rubber plug that was not installed leaving a hole in the floor pan. Rain got kicked in from driving. This issue was caused in the factory as it was under the carpet. Plug was installed, but now the carpet needs to be replaced, and its a week out. I fully expect there to be some electrical issues as the water has probably been slowly creeping around since I bought it. I did notice the passenger-side mirror light flickering the other night.
As of today, I have owned my Honda Passport for 40 days, and have been without it for 29 days. Much of those 11 days that I have had it has been consumed finding the wind noise, measuring and documenting the incorrectly installed body side moldings, and documenting the scratches on the door panels. 8 days we've been able to use the Passport, and that was with wind noise from the windshield, and water soaking the carpet.
I've been told by the Honda Service Department that they will refund the body side molding, and the labor for all the installation work, but that hasn't happened yet. Honda Customer Service (Denise) has refused to reimburse me $70 for the microphone I had to buy to find the source of the wind leak in the windshield.
So now here I am. There is 0% that I'll have my Passport back for the long 4th of July weekend. While I have a loaner vehicle, it's not a Passport TSE, and doesn't have a hitch receiver, so we can't even take a short trip to a State Park with our bikes. It's not a comparable loaner. I will be returning it today.
We've now missed our window for a Colorado road trip, and we may not be able to move before school starts. We've postponed a road trip to Natural Bridge Caverns and missed several trips to the beach at Galveston.
Why am I sharing this? I want you to know what quality issues I'm dealing with, the delays in getting replacement parts, and the lack of a comparable loaner. I'm hoping that maybe someone at Honda will read some of your comments and actually offer something more than an apology. Tomorrow marks 30 days that I have been without my Passport, without a comparable loaner, so I may have to address this further under Texas Lemon Law.
This has been a nightmare, and we're still looking at another week before we get our Passport TSE back.” - u/davidsegura
From there, things went downhill like a runaway Ridgeline on black ice. After flying to Roush Honda in Ohio to buy the exact trim and color combo they wanted, the family set off for Texas, but within the first few miles, wind noise was already creeping in through the front windshield. What followed was 40 days of ownership with only 11 days of actual driving, eight of which were spent dealing with mounting issues. The rest of the time? Service appointments, missed road trips, scratched door panels, and finally a discovery: the factory had forgotten to install a rubber plug in the floor pan. The result? Soaked carpet, electrical uncertainty, and a summer in limbo.
2026 Honda Passport TSE Ownership Nightmare: Missing Plugs, Wind Noise & Dealer Damage
- In March, Passport sales hit 5,558 units, marking an 87.8% increase year‑over‑year, driven by strong interest in the redesigned model
- May saw sales of 5,480 units, with the rugged TrailSport trim accounting for 4,165 of those, roughly 76% of the month's total
- Through early 2025, the off‑road‑focused TrailSport trim has captured a commanding three‑quarters share of Passport sales
- The surge in Passport, especially TrailSport, demand reflects shifting consumer appetite toward more adventurous, capable midsize SUVs in the early 2026 model‑year period.
What’s striking isn’t just the list of problems, it’s the randomness of them. This isn’t a platform-wide issue. “Knock on wood I’ve had zero issues so far in 1800 miles and three months of owning the 2026 TS,” wrote one commenter on the subreddit. Another added, “Not sure why so many people are chalking this up to first model year issues when it sounds like just bad QC and a bad service department.” And that’s the rub: the Passport TSE isn’t a lemon by design. It’s just a car that drew the short straw on the assembly line.
This makes the case all the more frustrating. The Passport, especially in TSE trim, is arguably the most complete expression of Honda’s SUV lineup. It’s powered by the ever-faithful 3.5L V6, bolted to a smooth 9-speed automatic and driving all four wheels through Honda’s i-VTM4 torque-vectoring system. It’s not trying to be a rock crawler or a canyon carver. It’s trying to be a reliable, go-anywhere family SUV that you can load up with bikes, dogs, kids, and dreams. When it works, it works beautifully. But when one rubber plug goes missing, or one service department shrugs off a customer’s concern, it all starts to unravel.
Honda Passport Sales soared 87.8% in March, Driven by TrailSport Demand
The service department in question didn’t help matters. After initially brushing off the wind noise as “normal,” the customer had to buy a $70 microphone to track it down himself, something Honda’s customer service reportedly refused to reimburse. That’s the kind of thing that sours even the most loyal brand advocate. Add to that crooked body side moldings, scratched paint from adhesive removal, and the final indignity: a soaked passenger-side footwell caused by that missing plug. It’s hard not to sympathize with a man who only wanted to move his family to Colorado, not test Honda’s warranty policies in real-time.
And yet, even through the frustration, there’s no broad condemnation here. No angry dismissal of the Passport as a flawed vehicle, or of Honda as a fallen brand. This isn’t about manufacturing betrayal, it’s about the frustrating unpredictability of mass production. As Reddit user One_Repair3756 put it: “They should have better quality control at the factory and surprisingly poor workmanship at the dealer.” In other words, the car wasn’t the problem. The process was.
2026 Honda Passport TSE Specs & Pricing: V6 Power, AWD System & Trim Comparisons
- The base Trim RTL starts at $44,750 (destination excluded), with the top-tier TrailSport Elite Blackout reaching around $53,650
- Powered by a 3.5 L V6 engine producing 285 hp and 262 lb‑ft of torque, paired with a responsive 10‑speed automatic and Honda’s i‑VTM4 AWD system
- Measures 191.5″ long, 79.4″ wide, 73.1″ tall, and rides on a 113.6″ wheelbase, about 2.4″ longer and 0.8″ wider than its predecessor
- Estimated at approximately 6.1 seconds, based on early test data
That’s the story behind this story. Cars today are built by thousands of hands, some robotic, many human. When they all work in harmony, the result is astonishing. When they don’t, even the most dependable brands can falter. What happened to this Passport owner could happen to any of us. And it’s not because the Passport isn’t great. It’s because even a great machine is only as good as the people who build and service it.
So if you're in the market for a new Passport, don’t turn away from the TrailSport Elite because of this one tale. Instead, learn from it. Inspect everything. Listen for wind noise. Check under the floor mats. Ask the uncomfortable questions at the dealership. Because when the Passport’s right, it’s everything it promises to be: an honest, capable, reliable companion. And when it’s not, well, it’s still a Honda. The odds are, with the right support, it’ll get there eventually.
Image Sources: Honda Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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