Wow, what a difference in Honda service departments...
I bought the Odyssey from O'Brien Honda in Salem, OR; and they are the ones who could not figure out the problem after 3 whole days with my minivan. They replaced a lower latch and claim to have tried the door 30 times without a problem... but when I picked it up, it failed to open on the first try.
Yesterday I called Wilsonville Honda (45 minutes north and a lot closer to me) and scheduled a time to drop off at noon the same day. A tech came out to see what was going on, and immediately said he needed to take the door panel off and watch what was going on inside the door - something the O'Brien service dept. never even thought to check. Within a half hour I had a call saying that the "crank assembly release motor" was freewheeling and would catch with a violent motion. The motor needed to be replaced.
Just before noon today, I received a call from Wilsonville Honda that my Odyssey was done, and the door was working perfectly. We picked it up this afternoon (washed and vacuumed) and the door does indeed work perfectly -- what a relief! I guess I know where I will get my service done from now on!