'AWD Problem' message

I had the same issue with my new BE at 20 miles total. Stopped at a light and as the traffic moved, I felt a slight shudder and the “AWD Problem” prompt came up; car seemed to run fine. Called the Dealer and they said the AWD shut down and the truck was now a FWD, but safe to drive. Into Service to be safe.

They said the issue was an “AWD Controller.” Came in the next day, installed, and 200 miles later – no problems. Not sure what an AWD Controller is, but found this on PickupTrucks.com, so it might have something to do with controlling the wet-clutch packs.

"Unlike its midsize four-wheel-drive competitors, there's no transfer case in the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline, so there's no driver involvement in selecting High/Low 4x4 mode. Instead, the Ridgeline driver pushes a button on the center console to select Mud, Snow or Sand as indicated in the display screen. Doing so activates preprogrammed algorithms designed by Honda engineers to let the Ridgeline's multitude of sensors and computers do all the thinking, making millisecond decisions on when, where and how much power to send to all four wheels to maximize traction.
The brains of the system is the i-VTM4, which controls an electronic rear differential and dynamic torque vectoring to send up to 70 percent of the 280 horsepower V-6 engine's 262 pounds-feet of torque to the rear depending on the traction needs. That power can be further split from zero to 100 percent left or right between the rear tires using computer-controlled wet-clutch packs that precisely control slip at the wheel. This gives the Ridgeline a big traction advantage over conventional 4x4s with open or limited-slip differentials."