yesterday I had my brake problems once again, but this time, the message “stayed”, so I filmed not only two warnings, which disappeared as usual, but a new one error, which stayed all the way until I drove in to the dealer repair shop, this time they received car with actively shown message and I did not shut it down
by now, my advisor greets me by name and asks about brakes problem with no need for me to remind context
I received a loaner CR-V and went out
fast-forward to today, they called and informed that “infotainment unit has to be replaced, because it’s the one showing message” and gave ETA for early March to receive one.
this logic is beyond my reasoning abilities, but by now I’m only [hysterically] laughing and let them do whatever they want to do
I asked to keep the loaner and they agreed
assuming they do swap with a lightning speed, they will still exceed 30 days of vehicle out of service, clear qualification for replacement/repurchase
the difference is: all the money they had to pay to arbitration, mediation people and for my rental car
it’s not out of the woods yet, but they run out of ducks on “why not” reasons to give me
It might well be a problem w/the infotrainment system. Who knows, might as well give them a chance. But this reminds me of a co-worker whos’ VW GTI wouildn’t start and the techs decided to take the ignition switch apart as a way to start the job. When the coworker asked why they took the ignition switch ass’y apart, the techs said “well, it won’t start and you’re supposed to start it by turning the key right?” … lol …
I can certainly understand your frustration and desire to just put this all behind you. Have they offered an explanation why it took 38 days to replace the audio system? Is it even replaced yet? Is it replaced but the same messages keep appearing?
in fairness, a “good” story from my coworker who owns 2018 Accord Hybrid
he made 43K miles in 1.5 years (driving Lyft after work), and his car died recently
dealer found some kind of “computer module” dead like a doornail, resulting in $600 parts and $1600 labor charges, he had no choice but t shell out that to get going
I suggested to him to call the corporate number and ask for a good faith help, as it should not have failed so early, although it is out of warranty… to his great joy, they are sending him 100% refund
this is 6th (sixth!) repair, so they accumulated 14 days on the first 5 attempts, now math worked like 14+24 = 38
my local dealer service manager (and his subordinates) are great guys actually, very friendly and helping. they let me keep their loaner for that long, although they certainly understood that this last occurrence will tip my case past the the maximum time allowed for repairs under the law
6 total documented failures and 37 days of service so far
VA Lemon Law thresholds is any one of (1) one major safety system failure (2) 3 attempts to repair the same defect (3) more than 30 days out of service in total
All the tactics of denial were deployed on me, with the latest twist of Honda rejecting to give me a written response on my last written repurchase demand.
They are clearly testing me on if I’m indeed going to deploy the lawyer on them.
I will not hesitate to do that, but for now I went above the head of the “mediator” assigned to me and requested response from his supervisor, they are cobbling the answer “since the case has to be reconsidered”.
as they do that, they already missed 15-days deadline for their response, to which I will call and remind them tomorrow.
If their answer is not “yes”, the only next step is to actually go with professional legal representation.
after sending much stronger demand letter, Honda deployed the tactic of “we will not give you any written response since we are not going to reconsider your case”
I went over the head of the mediator and reluctantly they sent case to re-review and provided yet another rejection, this time in writing
the day that FedEx arrived, the vehicle failed again, clearly showing that replacing the infotainment system will not fix brakes, so it’s back for repairs again
this time, I sent it to lawyer and upon evaluation they say the case is strong as it is, no need to serve any more additional notices or give any more repair attempts, so it is getting scheduled for a day in the court ASAP
Document every interaction, make sure they write down the actual problems you observe.
Essentially, I’m suggesting you to start compiling the case as if you know that you will go into litigation at some point.
On my case: I had documented failures 7 times, it’s already in litigation.
I did that and they are in the “information gathering phase”, so it will not help me, but if enough complaints are filed, at some point it will hold Honda’ feet to the flames to finally do something on the root of the problem
I took the vehicle to the Honda dealer yesterday 7/9. They will keep it for a day or two they gave me a loaner vehicle. Thank you I am documenting everything.
Dealer found bad front right side bearings. They replace the defective part and reset the computer. I’m documenting all activity. I also received paperwork from them about the job that was done and the reason the vehicle was there.
In my case they could not figure out what to do, so “to do something” they replaced the driver seat position sensor first, then they replaced the infotainment unit… no dice… car keep complaining about brakes…
