A proposed class action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California accuses American Honda Motor Co. of selling more than a decade’s worth of Honda and Acura vehicles with a white paint job that bubbles, cracks and peels off the body. The suit, Attika, et al. v. American Honda Motor Company, Inc. (case no. 2:26-cv-05532), was filed May 22, 2026, by lead plaintiff Quinn Attika and more than a dozen co-plaintiffs, according to court filings reported by Top Class Actions.

Seven Nameplates, Four Paint Codes, 13 Years of Vehicles

The complaint covers white-painted Acura MDX, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Fit, Honda HR-V, Honda Odyssey and Honda Pilot models from the 2013 model year to present, according to a summary published by ClassAction.org. Four specific finishes are named: White Diamond Pearl (NH-603P), Taffeta White (NH-578), White Orchid Pearl/Bellanova White (NH-788P) and Platinum White Pearl (NH-883P). Plaintiffs allege the defect traces to the paint itself, its application, or Honda’s manufacturing process, pointing specifically to the complexity of the three-stage technique used to produce pearlescent and metallic white finishes.

A Canadian Settlement as Exhibit A

To argue Honda already knew about the problem, the Attika complaint points to Daunais v. Honda Canada Inc., a comparable case north of the border that produced roughly $27 million in available relief when it settled in 2022, per Top Class Actions. Attika is not the only active white-paint case working through the courts, either. A separate suit, Clemmens v. American Honda Motor Company, was dismissed and then refiled in the same California federal court, where a judge allowed it to proceed again as of April 4, 2026, according to CarComplaints.com. That case, brought by MDX owners in Maryland, California and New York, alleges Honda has known about peeling and bubbling white paint since 2012.

The Clemmens case names three lead plaintiffs by make, model and year: a 2016 Acura MDX owner in Maryland, a 2017 MDX owner in California and a 2014 MDX owner in New York, according to the same CarComplaints.com report, which lists Keller Fishback & Jackson LLP and Squitieri & Fearon LLP as counsel for the owners. Together, the two suits stack up a decade-plus paper trail of MDX-specific paint complaints on top of the broader, multi-nameplate claims in Attika.

What Plaintiffs Are Asking For

The Attika complaint seeks class certification, damages and restitution under consumer protection statutes in a dozen states, ClassAction.org reports. Neither case has reached a settlement or trial, and no court has ruled on the merits of the peeling-paint allegations. Owners of affected models who have noticed clouding, bubbling or flaking on white body panels can typically document the damage through a dealership service visit while the litigation moves forward.