HONDA INSIDER CLAIMS ODYSSEY’S “LIGHTNING BOLT” DESIGN WAS UNINTENTIONAL

A lightning bolt.  That’s what Honda calls the unique zig-zag body design on the side of the company’s popular Odyssey minivan. At least that’s what the automaker told us when the newly-styled van was unveiled nearly five years ago.  

Odyssey’s so-called lightning bolt design first appeared on 2011 models

But that claim has been called in question thanks to a Honda employee who demanded anonymity and a medium pizza.  He told Parksplug that the vehicle’s unusual side sculpturing is actually the result of an assembly line robot welder that broke off its base. 

“It caused the rear quarter panel to drop more than an inch,” said the employee.  “No one noticed until after hundreds of vans had already rolled off the assembly line,” he said.  “At that point, it was cheaper to add a chrome strip and invent the lightning bolt story than to fix it.”   

Photo taken by anonymous assembly line employee shows fallen robot (right)

When we asked Honda for their reaction to the story, spokesperson Bicuspid Miller declined comment unless we also bought her a pizza, which we couldn’t afford. “Then I ain’t talking,” she said before hanging up.