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Honda Accord Quality Control Issues
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Comments
The perceived perception of Honda has always been favorable. But, as of late I am starting to wonder about Honda's quality standards. The transmission problem reported a few months ago really floored me. Honda though I feel made the right move by extending the power train warranty to quell the owners fears.
Honda would be wise to change its power train warranty from 3 years 36,000 miles to 5 years 60,000 miles. This would be good public relations on Hondas part and lead Honda in a new direction towards customer relations.
Unbelievable for a Honda or any car for that matter, with 730 miles to have this problem.
The dealer said they had never seen this before...what luck do i have!
But it is inappropriate to insult, badger and ridicule other posters because they post a different opinion or experience. And I've seen that happen again and again to Isell and now Stanton. When someone asks about an Accord transmission, by all means drag out the tales of woe. But why call people names or question their sanity or judge their honesty if they have a different opinion or experience?
And I agree that Honda should increase their powertrain warranty. I'm already past the 60k mile point, so it wouldn't do me any good, but it would offer some additional level of comfort to buyers at a probable very low cost.
Not that a couple of people here will believe it but this is news to me.
And I'm all for a longer warranty. Easy to do by jacking up the price of the cars a bit. Even if it's not needed it sounds good for those who worry.
Let's get back to discussing Honda quality issues and leave the personalities out of it.
manual service schedule and you won't go wrong.
As for oil changes, I won't do the 7500 route. I do it between 3k and 4k. I like clean oil.
Please don't be offended ... just some light humor.
I know how you feel. I have a 97 Civic with 100000 kilometers and I was told by the dealer to change the timing belt. I then checked in the user's manual and it said that the timing belt doesn't have to be changed until 160000 kilometers unless driven in severe conditions (which I don't). This has left me rather stressed because on the one hand I don't want to have to pay for a timing belt too early and on the other hand I know I'll do serious engine damage if I wait and it happens to break.
aanonymousposts:
I absolutely drool when I see how much you Americans are paying for cars. Consider yourself lucky: not only do you have cheaper cars, but you also have cheaper gas !!
Oh yeah, and ya'll have gotten heated mirrors and seats in Accords for a lot longer than we have. And you get the Acura EL.
About the gas difference, I was recently on vacation in Florida and I couldn't beleive it when it only cost me $10 to fill the tank after a weeks worth of driving !!
I read somewhere that the reason we Canadians get the Acura EL (and the Americans not) is because Acura feels that we generally are more concerned with fuel efficiency and buy less expensive cars. Acura feels that Canadians are more likely to embrace a 'luxury compact' car than Americans. I would generally agree with their reasoning. BTW, my friend has an Acura EL and I find it to be a nice little car, although for a few thousand more, you could get an Accord LX !!
The food of choice in Canada is the donut! I have never seen a country with more donut stands on each corner. Tim Horton's must be the donut of choice.
GST in Ontario---everyone gets to pay a whopping 15% on all goods and services bought or rendered.
Beer in the Canadian Brewers Retail costs a small fortune. So you know what Canadians do? They drive over the border to buy their beer in border towns such as Buffalo, NY etc. This is why their health care is so lousy--Canadians buy beer in the USA which takes away from the taxes that fund Canadian health care.
My theory is that we should invade Canada and make it the 51st State. We then could teach all the Canadians to stop using EH after every word they say!
By the way, THIS IS ONLY A JOKE CANADIANS! Canada is a great country and I am just trying to be a smart alleck.
(1) Cracked Driver Seat Base:
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The car was taken to the dealers with seat noise problem (for 5 times) and every time dealer told me they re-torqued all the nuts/bolts and lubed everything. But within a day or two the noise would be back. I (including the dealer's shop foreman) could hear the noise while accelerating from stop and no noise while running. At the end I insisted that the shop mechanic take the seat out and check, and then they found the crack. The seat base was then replaced with a new one.
(2) Noise from Door Panel, dash boards, rear deck:
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All the panels and dash boards were making so much rattle noise that I had to take the car to the dealer about 6/7 times. The dealer had to put rattle tape in so many places that I can not even keep track of it. On one occasion the dealer had to keep the car for a week and another time they had the car for 2 days to fix the noise.
But now I have one of the noises that the dealer fixed re appearing. It's from the left corner of the dash bord, right underneat the corner vent. If I pres the dash board right under the vent the noise goes away and comes back as soon as i leave it. I think the noise is from the fuse cover on the driver's side. Should I take the Car again to the dealer for this noise?
(3) Engine Noise:
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I used to hear thumping noise during morning start. The first dealer that I took my car to told me that they called honda and honda told them the noise was normal. But I was not satiesfied with this response and took the car to a 2nd dealer and they found a service bulletin on this one. It's regarding Engine Mount Solenoid. The ordered the part from honda and rerouted engine mount solenoid.
(4) Engine Starting Problem:
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On a number (at least 4 times that I remember) of occasions during morning start of the engine it felt like that the engine would die, but it did not and came back at normal RPM. I had left the car with the dealer overnight one time and had them start the car in the morning, but they could not reproduce the problem (which is very likely as it happened about 4 times or so with me)
What sould I be concerned abou here?
Overall, the number of problems that I had/have with my accord is so many that I would probably not buy another HONDA. The workmanship and the quality control of the manufacturing is really poor (atleast as evidenced by my car). I have driven NISSAN/TOYOTA before this HONDA, and this honda has given the worst driving satisfaction.
Any feedback on "Engine Almost Dying" and "Noise Problem" is appreciated.
I assume, you are still covered by the 3 year 36K Honda bumper to bumper warranty. Ironically, I have a relative that owns a 2000 Honda SE 4 cylinder and he has not had one problem outside of the normal Honda recalls for his model.
It sounds as if you are on the right track with the second Honda dealership regarding some of your problems. Like I mentioned before, Honda Regional should be involved with your problems and correct them.
http://www.motorportal.com/j__d__powers_survey.htm
On the other hand, Consumer Reports magazine is a magazine totally geared to the consumer. Automobile manufacturers utilize this message to a lesser degree. You will see Consumers Digest (different publication) advertises the merits of lesser cars. The car manufacturers pay for this type of advertisement in Consumers Digest.
Consumer Reports doesn't get paid by anyone and does not receive advertising revenues in their publication. If both sources are saying the same thing, how is one influenced and the other is not?
Both are coming up with almost the exact results!
I would love to hear the pros and cons of regarding the new 2003 Accord. What if any have been quality assurance concerns?
You can not calculate the mph speed by the rpm.
The speed of running car is depended on a lot of other factors, such as:
- The car weight (# of people in the car and things you have in the trunk)
- How your tire inflated (higher psi mean less surface contact with road => less friction)
- The road surface condition (up hill, down hill... rain, snow, slippy, wet and dry will affect the friction between your tire and road....)
- AC is on or off ?
- Do you have opened windows ?
- The wind direction... etc
Several ways to check your speed:
- Ask a friend drive another car with you... then use cell phone or walkie talkie.. to check the speed of the other car and compare with yours... (accurate is depended on your friend car)
- Get a handheld GPS navigatior... it will tell you how fast you are moving..
- If you have a laptop.. you can get some GPS navigatior it will do the same as above..
- Compare with speed checkers
I live in NJ... in I80 West.. there is one speed checker at before exit 167...
the speed checker tells how fast you are moving...
so check your area... if you live in NJ... then go to I 80.. to check..
Hope it may help
-Howard
PS: there is another way to check the speed (which is little costly) is:
Pick a highway that you know there a lot of of polices or state troopers.. then drive really fast..
The police will come to you...and will tell & also certify (written on paper) how you fast you were driving...
(I am joking about speeding ticket.. so please don't attemp to do it)
daytona01--my friend, car weight, uphill or down, using AC, open windows, and wind direction do not affect mph/1000 rpm. And tire inflation only very neglibibly because it slightly impacts loaded wheel diameter. As for the GPS idea, wow!! An easier way (which I'll try) is to use mileage markers on the interstate to see how long it takes to cover a mile (eg. should be 3600/mph, so 60mph is 60 seconds, 70mph is 51.4 seconds etc). Any variation from those times represents error which can then be figured on a percentage basis.
You can go to the store and pcik up a diagnostic that will read your RPM's digitally off the OBD connector and I would go off that. No manufacturer has ever claimed that their Tachs are 100% accurate, so if you add in say a 4-5% margin of error, or you even factor in your angle on the tach(unless you are looking at it dead on, at the exact angle of the tach gauge, your eyes will throw off the reading by a bit.) Besides... I wouldn't worry about it... if it is a little fast, at least it keeps ya out of trouble..
daytona01--my friend, car weight, uphill or down, using AC, open windows, and wind direction do not affect mph/1000 rpm. And tire inflation only very neglibibly because it slightly impacts loaded wheel diameter. As for the GPS idea, wow!! An easier way (which I'll try) is to use mileage markers on the interstate to see how long it takes to cover a mile (eg. should be 3600/mph, so 60mph is 60 seconds, 70mph is 51.4 seconds etc). Any variation from those times represents error which can then be figured on a percentage basis.
Never used the extended warranty once! My 1995 Accord is the most reliable car I have ever owned without a single problem outside of basic maintenance, brakes and tires.
I am still driving the Accord and I have over 201K on the odometer. The car still runs great and the suspension is tight. After the OEM Michelins were replaced at 42K, I decided on the Michelin X-Ones as a replacement. My first set gave me over 83K before I bought a second set. Best tires I have ever owned and I am only on my third set of tires!
Concluding, Hondas are reliable if you take care of them. Follow the manual for maintenance and they will be the best car you will ever own.
Hondas, Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans. All of them,
Cheers!
Dinu
http://www.nicb.org/services/top_stolen_100vehicles.html
Why would anyone want to heist an Oldsmobile?
out for 3 months? What else would you expect?