A close friend and golfing buddy owns a 2006 Honda Pilot. Just recently at only 53000 miles six rocker arm assemblies went bad and had to be replaced at a cost of $2000.00. For the non-mechanics rocker arm assemblies are among the most rugged components of an internal combustion engine and should not be defective at this low milage. Upon investigation he learned that Honda became aware that some of its V6 engines had these defective parts in 2007 and issued service bulletin 07-007 to its dealers in October of that year. Note the this was two years before his warranty expired. When he contacted them as to why they did not issue a recall for this obvious defect they responded stating thAT "Honda only issues recalls for safety issues", i.e., they kept quiet and waited for warranties to expire to avoid payment of what was obviously a warranty item. He contacted them several times to note that this was obviously a defective vehicle at time of purchase and that he should be reimbursed for the costs. They refused every request and also refused to be put their refusals in writing stating that "Honda does not put its policies in writing". Using Google we have been astounded by the number of examples of unethical treatment of customers by Honda. He is spreading the word and fighting back however he can. "DON'T BUY A HONDA!!"

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That is Sad to hear. I owned a Honda Accord about ten years ago. It
was the best car I ever owned. I so regretted trading it in after the
fact and still do. It was as solid as a Rock. I bought a Subaru and it
is still good but nothing like that Honda was. It sucks to hear this.

I'll be buying a new Honda soon. If it came with free shipping, I'd buy it from Amazon.com.

Jim.

I am sorry to hear about this trouble. I have owned a few honda
vehicles in the past and they were fantastic.
Never broke down and just kept on running with nothing more than
simple maintenance > oil changes etc.

I own a Toyota now and its has been awesome for me.
In fact I was thinking of turning my older toyota in for a Honda
in the next few years and start fresh.
but after your post I will take a closer look at
the stats of Honda reliability and service and see how it goes.

I would really like to buy a lexus but i cant afford it

Check to see if there have been any class action suits filed against Honda on this problem, If not contact a Law firm and start one. You will get your expenses reimbursed and the law firm will make several million dollars.

Shelly

There is no class action suit for this item, Shelly but there is one due to Honda lying about the milage of its Hybrid vehicles. Honda advertised 40 mpg but the vehicles only get 30. Honda has made a generous offer of $100.00 per vehicle. That won't pay for a month's worth of gas. A lawyer lady, Mrs. Peters, sued and received $1000.00. The judge in this case severly chastised Honda for lying and for putting out software that they claimed would fix the problem. It didn't fix it, also it was proven that Honda lied again because they knew that the issued software was not a fix but rather a scam to fool their customers. If we all would buy American at least we could get screwed by our own kind. I own a GMC 4X4 pickup and a Grand Am Pontiac. GM discovered that they had a problem with the oil in the front differential of my GMC and issued a recall. If that was Honda they would have kept quiet in the hope that the warranty would expire.
My buddy doesn't want to pursue it any further. If it were mine I would fight them until hell froze over.

The TSB would have had a specific procedure for checking the problem. If the check was negative (if your friend had taken it in under warranty for the check) they wouldn't do anything.

Often what they'll do is extend the warranty on a specific problem area (my car has two of these.) They only know of it if the part fails, or is going to fail based on the check.

So, it pays, with a new/er car especially (they're much stricter on their warranty work these days) to find a forum for your car and keep up with it. Then you'll know if there's a TSB and can determine if it might apply to your car.

Modern car service is a political game with you, the dealer and the company. Most important thing is to have the service manager on your side. After, of course, keeping yourself informed of potential issues.

The real problem with getting a car serviced under warranty is the the dealership, not the company as a whole. Dealerships don't make much money doing warranty work and have even lost money doing so.
JP

Several years ago I was having some transmission problems. The car was still under warranty, and the dealer made free repairs replacing computer parts. I went to visit a friend for a few days in another part of the state about 100 miles away, and my transmission failed, there was about 2 months left on my warranty and we limped to a dealership down there on a Sunday, left the car and left the keys and a note in the dealers service drop box.

The next morning I called the dealership and they told me they were installing a new transmission and the car would be ready about 2:00 pm. I went down to pick up the repaired car. They had put in a brand new transmission, and extended my warranty on it for an additional 4000 miles. I told the sevice manager about the repairs I had had on it from the dealer I purchased it from, and he said that the service codes said it had to be replaced and that was what they had done. I owned that car another 6 years and never had any further transmission problems.

That is the difference between an honest dealer and one waiting for the warranty to expire.

Shelly

It must be different in the states as up here dealerships make most of their money doing warranty work as there isn't much room on the sale of a new vehicle.

I think you're mistaken. They make the money from non-warranty work. You don't pay them for the work that is done under warranty.

MSU

The manufacturer pays the dealership for warranty work but just for the labor at a negotiated rate.

Shelly

So they probably break even on the labor then since they have to pay the mechanic out of the negotiated rate the manufacturer pays them. Which I'm sure is much less than they would charge the general public. And you say they only pay for the labor. Does that mean the dealership foots the bill for the parts? The customer certainly doesn't.

MSU

The manufacturer supplies the parts, or replaces them in the dealers parts inventory.

Shelly

What happens is that the service tech is given a set amount of time to diagnose and repair the problem. The tech gets paid only for that time, and if it takes longer they lose out. In the meantime, the dealership is losing because the tech has not moved on to the next job.
JP

So what I originally said is true, they don't make squat on warranty work. Right?

MSU

Like I said I have talked to a few car salesman and mechanics at dealerships(acquaintances)and they all say the dealership makes squat on the cars they sell and that even though it is a flat rate shop the manufacturer is paying them more than what they are paying mechanics and overhead.Service work and warranty work is where they make money.The flip side of flat rate as well if the job is rated at 5 hrs and it takes 3 it still costs 5 hrs labor.I doubt many would be doing much warranty work if they lost money on it.

I have a very close friend who owns a GMC dealership. He told me that he makes his money on new and used sales and that if he broke even in the service dept he was happy. He said that there was no money to be made on warranty work because the factory cut the dealers so close on manhours allowed to do a job and that regular service work was the reason the shop broke even or if lucky made a few bucks.

A service department is a cost of doing business. Who would by a vehicle from a dealer who could not provide at least warranty service on it?

Shelly

That was his point, Shelly. He said that if the service dept was not a necessity to sell cars he would close it down. I had commented to him about how expensive it was to have work done at a dealership. He showed me the amount of new equipment that had to be purchased each year to keep up with the new vehicles. I must admit to being surprised.

Not the USA, I know, but here's my experience.

I bought a new Mazda 3 in 2005. The standard warranty was 3 years. My dealer extended that to 6 years, on condition that they did all my scheduled services in that time. And they charge like wounded bulls.

My last dealer service in February 2011 cost me $A1100. I'm now out of warranty and back with my trusted family mechanic. Major service there a couple of weeks ago - $300.

And the dealer is still sending reminder letters every six months trying to get my business back. Don't tell me they're not making money on scheduled serviing.

This plan that many of 'import' manufacturers have, Honda being the leader, it so bogus. What they do is rope, coerce, cajole, and guilt their car owners into buying into dealer/factory "maintenance" service which are outrageoulsly expensive. Like, "pay me (big$) to perform normal inspection of your car", which at most family garages is free, OH, and by the way, if repair is indicated, (as it usually is) that will be extra. The end result is, a front brakes only job costs $600, whereas if you just walked in and said "put in new rotors and pads" it would cost $300. (or whatever). Honda speciallizes in this crap. So if you look at the consumer reports magazine, and their subscribers write in and say, 'who has the best car' , well, it is of course Honda. Why? Cause the owners are having their car maintained and repaired, and thus it runs!. Honda is pushing their owners into repairing a car. Well, any car maintained and repaired runs great!. (At twice the price).

MSU

In fairness, I did get one warranty repair free through this plan - an engine mount replaced. And engine mounts aren't just big lumps of rubber any more. I had no idea it was going. I just left the car for a scheduled service and it the engine mount was done the same day at no cost.

Oops. Posted to wrong topic.

Jim.

Your picture .

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