Honda Rust

Honda Accord Coupe 1992-2002. Every car I see in those years has developed rust on the rear quarter panels at the front of the rear wheel well and on the bottom of the body at the wheel well. I’m told Honda placed insulation in those areas to cut down road noise, but it got wet, couldn’t dry, and has now rusted the bodys from the inside out. Anyone else know about this? Honda America does not deny that this is the case, but is saying that age and wear and tear is to be expected. Seriously, I thought that Honda was a better company than that. I guess that early on they decided to stonewall and wait for the complaints to judge the cost of a repair recall. Now time has passed and they say it’s too late. Any experience in this area?

Where do you live and how old is your car? If your car is previous to 1997 you have little leg to stand on. If your car is newer I would at least try with Honda. IMHO any car >10 years/150k miles more serious problems can occur.

Honda is not the golden child and has their issues. My beloved Civic(hated the car) had terrible rust at 9 years/225,000 miles where the bumper attached to the body. It was not visible except when the bumper sagged and I fixed with bungee cords and sold off as-is to the next owner who was well aware of the issue in general.

Its not just Honda. GM A-bodies rust through the rear wheelwell area, then the insulation under the rear seat soaks it up and makes it worse, then before you know it the rear axle separates from the unibody. Most of these cars that get junked are for that reason, its sad because they run great otherwise.

Live in PA but the car has been all over from FL to CA. Many miles, 189,500 and runs well, no great, but the rust has caused the PA service people to consider not passing it for inspection. I’m in no condition for a car purchase. Looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet or pay over $900 for four spot repairs with no info on what’s lurking underneath. Ya know, I think Honda lost a customer of twenty years. I think they should have taken care of this a long time ago.

Take the car somewhere else for inspection. PA changed the rules on rust many years ago.

I have a '97 Honda, and it has NO rust at all, and I live in PA, where they salt the roads, too.

What part of the state do you live in. I don NOT see a bunch of rusted out Hondas.

no, honda is not a better company than that, the only thing they can make is bikes

There are literally MILLIONS of Honda vehicle owners who would disagree with you.

I’m wondering why you asked. Since you gave a range of years rather than a specific year, it occurred to me that perhaps you’re shopping for one rather than the current owner of one?

My daughter’s 2001 Civic, a New Hampshire car, has no rust. Where’s your home? I know that living by the sea in a hot humid climate can signifcantly accelerate rust…when I was on Guam in the military every car on the island was rusted.

I’ve got a rust problem in only one (I think) of my '94 Camry’s wheel wells. I recently discovered that my 118K-mile Camry (which I am fairly fond of & hoped to keep for a lot longer) has rusted through, but only in the back of the right rear wheel well (perhaps into the trunk). For some reason, the other 3 well wheels have protective mud guard linings but this one doesn’t (or doesn’t anymore?). My mechanics thinks it never did and that the rear left one only does because it’s next to the gas tank. Does that make sense? I thought for sure there was one in place in each well (got the car from a deceased relative) and thought that maybe my mechanic’s shop removed it when replacing the rear shock system. His assistant believes that, if there was a mud liner, it would not have needed to be removed by the shop. He surmises that it could’ve come detached in a car wash or else dropped off while driving without necessarily being noticed.
Has anyone heard of Toyota taking responsibility for (i.e., paying to repair) a rusted-through wheel well? Does it make sense, as my mechanic suggests, that 1 of 4 wheel wells wouldn’t have a mud guard liner?
I want to hire a body shop to repair the hole and figure it can’t cost TOO much, since it doesn’t have to look pretty inside a wheel well. Any thoughts?