Serious question, did a cheap oil filter really kill a 2019 Civic at 40k?
Customer rolled into my bay in Mesa last Tuesday with a knock you could hear over the radio, and the paper element in his filter had collapsed and sent grit straight through the bearings. I have seen that exact cheap filter brand do this three times now in two months, so check yours before the next oil change and tell me if you have run into the same thing.
Three times in two months is a lot for one shop, and a collapsed filter letting grit through is real, but I would pump the brakes on blaming the filter by itself. A 2019 Civic at 40k with a rod knock usually has a story behind it, skipped changes, low oil, or someone running it hard, and the filter just happens to be what failed last. Cheap paper elements do fall apart, no question, but plenty of cars run the bargain brand for 100k and never knock, so something else is going on with this guy's motor. Also, three of the same car in six weeks starts to smell like a bad batch or a parts store pushing junk, not proof that the filter alone killed it. I would want to see the oil that came out and know when it was last changed before I call it.