Refreshed 2014 Honda Odyssey Debuts With… Onboard Vacuum Cleaner?

UPDATE: Less than 30 minutes before Honda took the wraps off of its all new Odyssey, the actual minivan showed up at the New York City studio. “It was supposed to be here at noon, but it got caught up in a snow storm in Pennsylvania,” one public relations person said. “It’ll get here. It will.” In fact, this was the first vehicle debut where I showed up before the vehicle. But no sooner did the PR team stop wring their hands that the 2014 Odyssey rolled down West 37th Street. Now that it has arrived, everyone seems enamored with the HondaVac, the shop vacuum located in the back of the minivan. Reporters stood around holding the 10-foot hose and sucked up jelly beans and cheese doodles in fascination of how a vacuum works. - Scott Burgess Honda has unveiled the refreshed 2014 Odyssey at the New York auto show. The face-lifted exterior was revealed with minimal fanfare, as Honda was most proud of one of its latest features: The HondaVac. True to its name, the accessory is an onboard vacuum that will be available exclusively on the 2014 Odyssey Touring Elite trim level.
Honda says the feature is the first ever in-vehicle application of a vacuum cleaner. The HondaVac was developed jointly with Shop-Vac, and is comprised of an electric motor, replaceable filter, and canister bag. Nozzle accessories are stored in the HondaVac’s storage compartment on the driver’s side rear cargo area bulkhead. The vacuum can run continuously while the engine is on, and can continue working for up to eight minutes after the engine is turned off. In addition to the available vacuum, the 2014 Honda Odyssey will feature structural upgrades to meet IIHS’ new small-overlap frontal crash test criteria. The Odyssey also receives sleeker styling, with a new sculpted aluminum hood, aluminum front fenders, a more aggressive twin-bar front grille, and an updated lower fascia with chrome-trimmed fog lights. LED taillight bars, two-tone exterior mirror caps, dark-finish projector headlight housings, and new badging will also help distinguish the refreshed Odyssey from last year’s model. Inside, a redesigned center stack is one of the interior’s highlights.

The Odyssey Touring Elite model gets safety tech like Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, and Expanded View Driver’s Mirror. Standard convenience features on the Touring Elite include smart key entry and push-button start, HD Radio, in-car text messaging capability, and Hondalink, which can connect to a mobile device to access Facebook, Twitter, and Aha streaming radio. Is the HondaVac the next trend to hit the minivan segment? We can’t say, but if the cosmetic update strikes a chord with minivan customors, the Odyssey will likely remain a solid pick in the class.