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So, if you bought your Accord before Honda changed the wording, you should be able to sue (false advertising). What are you waiting for?
1. The car is very jerky in general. Mostly when coming to a stop.
2. The car surges/de-surges on the highway like it's trying to shift.
Based on what you state, you should have no problem in duplicating the problem with the dealer service dept. Do you accompany them on a drive so you can demonstrate what the problems are?
It can't be THAT bad (the advertising) or people would've already sued over it and won, right?
DISCLAIMER - I'm not discrediting, nor do I intend to discredit your accounts of VCM troubles.
I understand the dealership needs to give the company line (There's nothing wrong with your vehicle) and it also may be true that not all V6's act this way. However, since I'm in a 36 month lease, I'm not going to be very satisfied with the car and probably be very bitter towards Honda for not doing anything to help me.
I consider myself an enthusiast as most people on this forum probably do -otherwise why would you be on a car forum So you most likely expect more and are more critical than the average driver whose probably just cares how to get from point A to point B.
The dealership I bought the car from said he's had 12 or so people complain about the VCM once. They never complained again according to him. So, you might be right, that it's more of an annoyance than a critical issue for 99% of the people who drive them. However, what about the 1% who it drives up the wall? :mad:
OF COURSE NO ONE IN THE RIGHT MIND WOULD PURCHASE A NEW CAR WILL VIBRATE.
WE HAVE DRIVEN HONDA CAR FOR PAST 25 YEARS WE NEVER HAVE A PROBLEM. THIS IS REALLY A DISAPPOINTMENT; ESPECIALLY THE HONDA PEOPLE TRIED THEIR BEST TO LIE TO US.
THIS IS NOT A HINDA MOTOR CAR WHO MANAGED BY THE OLD MR. HIONDA AND FAMILY , NOW IT IS THE SAME AMERICAN SALESMEN MANAGES THIS CORPROATION
If Kegobass statement about VCM being okay for 99% while 1% being annoyed by it, then Honda did their job. No company can please 100% of people 100% of the time. From Honda's perspective, if VCM is operating normally, what can they do to make the 1% happy? Certainly not give them their money back for buyer's remorse - which is what it appears to them. Can I feel the VCM working? Yes. Does it vibrate, shudder, jerk and shake like the few posters here state it does? NO. Believe me, I'm not trying to belittle all your experiences, but based on the some of the descriptions of VCM operation detailed in this forum, you would think the car is flying apart. Broken motor mounts, wheel/tires out of balance or out of round or some other mechanical problem could be the cause, but these are easily found and corrected. I hope you all find resolution for your troubles, but you may have to face the music and decide that the Accord is not for you, nothing more or less.
"descriptions of VCM operation detailed in this forum, you would think the car is flying apart. Broken motor mounts, wheel/tires out of balance or out of round or some other mechanical problem could be the cause, but these are easily found and corrected"
noone has ever described the VCM "shock", surge or shudder to that degree. or even the vibration. this is a simple issue from my experience and perspective.. its a poorly designed suspension compliment OR faulty design overall in how the motor mounts, ANC etc work in concert.. if a car shimmy's, vibrates its typically a bad tire, bad wheel.. if those two compenents are removed from the equation whats left axle and suspension. the fact that "most" drivers can "drive" out of the vibration accelerating to 80mph providing a normal smooth opertation tells me this is a suspension issue.. anyone have any constructive thoughts?
Working for a news station, I've heard nothing about it, even on the AP wire.
Would love a link to something, by all means.
Given that everyone is now receiving the same response from their service dept, it's clear that Honda has directed the service departments to state that it is a "normal characteristic" of the model.
To anyone who is considering buying or leasing a V6 Accord with VCM, please seriously consider shopping around for another car until Honda gets its act togther on the newly designed Accord and stops with the subterfuge. For those of you who have an older Accord and are thinking of trading up to a 2008 or 2009, consider yourself warned that this is not the same quality of car that you were accustomed to in the past. (I'm not sure it's the same company; Honda owned up to problems in the past and did not mislead customers as they are now.)
In addition to the vibration from the variable mis-firing of the engine, there is considerable road noise on the highway and on rough payment so much so that it can be challenging to hear the radio at times.
If you do decide to get a new Accord, please take it for an extended road test without the salesman so that you can actually pay attention to the car's driving characteristics. See also Edmund's long term test of the 2008 Accord.
In hindsight, I would not have purchased a car that was intentionally designed to mis-fire at certain speeds coupled with a systems that creates noise so that the driver doesn't hear (or is distracted from the sound) of the engine mis-firing along with computer controlled engine mounts designed to re-direct the vibration from the mis-firing.
At the moment, there are a lot better cars for the price to put up with a car that is annoying to drive.
Honda needs to take a lesson from Johnson & Johnson when the Tylenol scare erupted in the 70s or 80s: fess up immediately, make it right, and continue to thrive. In the absence of Honda doing this, I'm one of those bigmouths who will make sure that not just 10, but 100, of my friends are aware of Honda's disdain for consumers who have gotten stuck with this vehicle.
The cylinders in the Honda V-6 are normally fired at equal intervals (0, 120, 240, 360, 480, 600 , 720 deg and so on). Running the VCM in 3-cylinder mode allows these cylinders to be fired at equal intervals (0, 240, 480, 720 deg and so on). Running the VCM in 4-cylinder mode does not allow these 4 cylinders to be fired at equal intervals (these may be fired at 0, 120, 360, 480, 720 deg and so on), Thus, the engine will potentially run rougher in the 4-cylinder mode than either the 3 or the 6 cylinder mode).
A Buick engine ran into a (similar) roughness problem when they converted a V-8 engine into a V-6 engine around 1980 without an engine redesign, with the cylinders firing at unequal intervals (0, 90, 180, 360. 450, 540, 720 deg and so on). After couple of years of roughness complaints, they finally went to a crank offset system to allow the engine firing to occur at a constant 120 deg interval.
I think Honda is on the right path with VCM. Once they combine it's use with 6 or 7 speed auto transmissions, I believe they'll be able to extract more mpg gains from larger displacement engines. Honda is well known for their technological advancements for engine and auto design and function. VCM is a concept and technology that although they didn't invent, they have perfected it much further than any other auto company could to date.
That said, I do believe what other posters are saying. That's originally why I took the Accord off of my consideration list and why I insisted on a LONG test drive with a lot of freeway driving prior to purchase.
I do believe that you and I and many others are lucky. I also believe that it's time for Honda to step up to the plate and address the issue for those not so lucky.
If I did have this issue, I'm the type with the psychological profile that would shift my focus to the problem area and become increasing annoyed every time I drove. It would ruin my driving experience.
So what Honda location do you work?
I am so disappointed with this 2008 Honda Accord V6. We took it for granted ,we assumed Honda Motor Car Company was a good car manufacturer , they would never stick you with a lemon. As I mentioned in my earlier message, my family drove Honda Cars for over twenty five years + , we never had a problem with Honda. Never had a vibration problem. This is our first bad experience.
I just hope people saw your comments and mine before they purchase a 2008 Honda Accord V6. They'd better take the car for a driving test on the highway and not just in city traffic.
So far no newspaper will accept our letter about Honda Accord V6 problem, They just do not want to offend Honda Motor and their dealers.
I'm very sorry to hear about the troubles you're having! I'd be disappointed too, no doubt.
Appreciate hearing from you.
jdy
I don't know whether this update affects the vibration and surging issues that others have reported at higher speeds, since I haven't really had it out on the highway since the update was installed. I didn't really experience these issues to begin with, so I probably wouldn't be in the best position to advise on that.
I took delivery of my car in Dec. 2007, so the update presumably came out sometime after that. I'm a little disappointed that I had raised this issue, repeatedly, with the dealer's service department and with Honda's customer service operation in Torrance, CA, and nobody bothered to apprise me of the availability of this update. I recognize that the left hand often doesn't know what the right is doing, but where people actually complain to corporate and there is a potential fix that is released, it doesn't seem that hard to come up with a system to get the message out to the affected people.
The people at the dealership were actually quite pleasant and offered no resistance, especially when I asked about the possibility of a quick fix such a software update. I also combined the request with a request for non-warranty work (routine oil/filter/tire rotation).
Third Honda in five years, but dare I say the last if the fix doesn't come soon. Last week the HVAC unit started blowing little bits of white crap out of the dash vents all over the black leather interior. At least it has taken my mind off the crappy drive while I figure out if this white debris is toxic. Anyone else yet? Oh yeah, did I mention the warped rear brake rotors at 12,000 miles (dealer did repair at no charge). Good dealer .... now fix the rest of the problem!
LEMON! LEMON! LEMON! LEMON!!!!!!!!!!
A) Has anyone road tested a 2009 V6 yet? (sorry, but test needs to have been done by someone who has condition on their 2008 model).
I am amazed at the number of posters here who do not have this issue with their vehicle. You are fortunate and I would trade shoes/cars with you if I could. Is this something most people just do in their spare time? I found this site only because I Googled 2008 Accord VCM Problems because I was experiencing the condition and was getting no where with my dealer. Not something I would have Googled in my spare time unless of course i worked........
Just wondering....
Absolutely it is something I do in my spare time. I'm a car nut, and like talking about cars in general. This is something of a community here, with excellent moderators who keep things in line and keep the conversations relevant to the topic under which they are listed.
Since I joined the site over 3 years ago I've learned an awful lot about maintenance, as well as gotten advice on the right price for car A or car B when bargaining with a dealer. Some of the most popular boards are the "prices paid" forums, but my favorites tend to be the comparison. They typically don't turn into "arguments" but rather informative discussion. Another fun bit of info you can get here is insight into future models. People in the know will often link you to photos of a new car coming out, as well as pertinent info about it. This helps you know "Do I buy now or wait for the new one?" etc...
Either way, welcome (back) to Edmunds!
TheGraduate
- You're not the only one. Would you say this happens when it is idlying or when you are driving? My car had the valve tapping noise so I had them do the SB for the valve ticking. Since then it has been idlying very rough - feeling like the car is rocking almost. I have taken it back twice but off course they can't feel it. We did a comparison with an 09 and there was a world of difference in the two they way they idled. I thought maybe they tightened one of the valves to much but after reading your post, maybe there is something more.
It ran great for first 3 weeks, after that it's surging and hesitating all the time on the freeway at around 60-80 mph. I'm curtain that it's not a shifting, because I don't see the rpm bounces when it happens.
How often does it surges? From my home to my office, it's about 23 miles. This car surges anywhere from 3-20 times. Twice/day, 5 days/wk - It's driving me crazy!!
Not only that, very often it shudders before a completed stop.
I owned many Honda vehicles in the past (Accord'85, Legend'92, Accord'95) very please with them, never expected to have this kind of problem with Honda car.
Last weekend I took 2 of my friends for a ride (I didn't mentions anything about surging), one of them asked me "Why your car hiccups?" LOL.
I'm heading to the dealer this weekend, but after reading lot of postings in many forums, I know what to expect to hear from them. LOL.
Can Honda Motor categorizes what many many people consider a problem as a "characteristic of the car" and get away with these type of answers?
It's so irresponsible if Honda Motor tells those who have this problem that surging/shuddering is a characteristic of this car.
I've got the feeling this will be my last Honda vehicle.
Fred
Don't write off an entire car-line because a few people had problems; trust me, every car make out there will produce models with inherent problems. Extensively test drive your car; other posters feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but nobody's car has developed this issue after driving for a certain period of time; its been right from the start if they do happen to have an issue.
I'm not discounting the problems here, but there has been much debate over this issue here, and for every person with this problem, there are more who do not have it, or it'd be a very public issue (a' la Toyota sludge a decade ago).
Just take everyone here (myself included) with a grain of salt. Let's be honest, when there is a problem with something I own, I make a bigger deal out of it than most would because it is MINE. Others likely do the same.
My girlfriend wants to kill me now for buying this car. So in addition to automotive problems I can also thank Honda for domestic problems, not to mention the financial one caused by having to sell a brand new car. Lesson learned. Honda stinks.
Since all cars aren't saddled with the issue, its obvious to me that they did something right. It can be done and implemented beautifully. Some have issues, a sign that they have also done something wrong. The trouble is actually figuring out the component(s) causing the problem. It can't simply be by "chance" that the technology works in some cars and not in others; there must be a specific difference or set of differences.
I'm sorry your car is one with the troubles. All I can say is raise as much of a stink as you can with your dealer, as well as with Honda Corporate. Open a case with them. I'm sure someone will be happy to post the number of Honda's 1-800 number to call the corporate office.