As the instigator of the website (www.visualimpressions.ca/switch), I
find it amazing that 15 months after the Ignition Switch Recall by
Honda that I am still getting e-mail regularly from Honda owners with
the exact same symptoms amnd still having problems getting Honda and
their factory trained technicians to admit the problem is still out
there.

I have received one letter from a guy who bought a Honda Certified
Used Car from a Honda delaer only to have the ignition switch fail in
the first month. The dealer found the VIN number in the recall list
but failed to take any steps to fix the car while it sat on his lot
for sale. What is it with these Honda dealers - have they no respect
for safety.......

However, the latest letter really concerns me as it clearly shows that
Honda had simply pushed this recall under the table so prospective
Honda owners believe Honda's are a faultless car.

This is a current case sent to me:

Thanks for your website. I think that this problem is continuing,
however. I had my ignition switch replaced at the behest of the recall
and AFTER that it started failing! Once I was driving 30 m.p.h with no
one else in the car and it failed. I just thought that I was imagining
things and I just started the car up again.

The next time I was going down I-95 from Baltimore to Washington (a
very dangerous road with a lot of trucks) with my two young children
in the car and the car just died. It made no noise whatsoever, I just
noticed that the speedometer went to zero.

I called the Honda place that did the work and they were evasive about
it. They said that IF the ignition switch was the problem they would
take care of it but that they had to go through everything in my car
(at MY expense) to diagnose the problem. They clearly had no incentive
to find that the ignition switch was the problem, you know? Also, this
particular dealer had "changed" the brake fluid for me, but when I
took it to another car place two months later they said that the brake
fluid had not been changed in years (I looked at it too, it was very
dirty). The dealer then said that they don't change ALL of the fluid,
but some of it. I've not heard of that before! That seemed like very
sloppy work, so I did not take it back there.

I took it to another Honda dealer for them to inspect the ignition
switch and they said that there was "no problem". Through it all,
American Honda was not helpful at all. In fact, I had several people
there tell me that I COULD take it to an outside person to have it
checked out and others that insisted that I take it to a Honda
dealership.

One woman who claimed to be a case manager (but not mine) screamed at
me through the phone to go and get it checked out, that it was a
safety concern and it needed to be repaired NOW. First, she also
irrationally told me that if the Honda dealer could not reproduce the
problem that I would have to drive the car around all the time until
it would fail "on cue" FOR the Honda dealer. WITH MY KIDS IN THE CAR
AT HIGH RATES OF SPEED. American Honda of course told me that I was
the "only one" who was reported this problem.


I took it to the Goodyear dealer who did reproduce the problem and
said that the ignition switch would just arbitrarily turn off. He then
called the Honda parts place and they SAID that sometimes the wrong
switch was put in the vehicles (Honda strongly denies this. I wonder
how they can when their own parts person said that to the Goodyear
mechanic? Clearly they KNOW that there is still a problem). The parts
guy also said that American Honda knows about the problem and would
not have a problem reimbursing us for the work done.

When I called American Honda back they were VERY unresponsive. In
fact, we had been waiting for a "case manager" to get back to us but
found that the case had instead been CLOSED. They yelled at me that
they absolutely would not pay for anything and that they could not
confirm that that was the problem. They were very unhelpful and very
resistant to helping me.


I HAVE the switch that the Goodyear people told me was faulty. I
cannot tell whether it is the new part or the old part. Do you know
how you can tell? I did not get to see the new part that was put in to
the car. Also, do you know of a good place to have this part tested?

They (Honda American) actually called ME to yell at me and tell me
that it is NOT the ignition switch because they "did a perfect job in
re-installing the parts". I informed the lady (who was mostly yelling
at me and didn't listen to anything that I had to say) that the Honda
parts guy himself told my mechanic that some of the parts were either
old (not redesigned) or not installed correctly and that it was a
known problem to him -- to which she yelled some more. I told her that
she was harassing me and that she cannot phone me anymore! Whereas
Honda said that they could not reproduce the problem, my mechanic did
it instantly (and with the help of the Honda parts guy on the phone).
The lady from Honda screamed at me that I would have to "drive the
car until Honda could reproduce the problem easily". An amazing
directive (to me she and Honda have a complete disregard for human
life and safety) given that it is a known problem.

****************

I can tell you this is but a sample of what I receive from desparate
Honda owners trying to deal with the company. After 30 years of owning
a Honda (I currently own 3) I will not be looking at a new Honda.

I myself hassled Honda Canada for over year before I finally got a new
ignition switch put in my own vehicle. As for my friendly local
dealers (Sunshine Honda in Vernon and Harmony Honda in Kelowna BC),
they have simply forgotton that I was a customer and have absolutely
made no attempt to help me in my endeavors.

I read this newsgroup and all I see is problems with the newer
vehicles.

It scares me tho think about other potential problems existent in
Honda vehicles that Honda clearly knows are problems but makes no
effort to notify the vehicle's owners before someone gets killed.


--
Lindsay Thachuk
in Western Canada with the World's best computer
the Acorn Risc PC - the only StrongARM Desktop in ARMStrong
running a reliable, efficient, and stable OS.

Don't want a Honda because the ignition switch failed after 10 years?
Try a Chrysler Sebring.

In Ottawa two days ago a rented 2004 Sebring stalled on the Queensway.

A tow truck driver told the occupants to stay in the dedicated bus lane
and he would notify the bus company. (He should have put cones out,
as a minimal gesture, one would think.)

On a clear day, a bus drove about 300 ft down the vacant lane,
and rear ended her, killing her child.

Her husband is in a coma, she may lose an arm.

I've owned an 83 Prelude, 86 Accord, 91 Accord, 93 Accord, and 2001 Accord.

I've never had one fail to start, except the 91, which seems to be displaying
the relay problem over the last few weeks. 12 years down the line.

So, fed up with Honda?

Try a North American product.

LRM

Lindsay Thachuk <visimp (AT) visualimpressions (DOT) ca> wrote



that was a voluntary recall and is over. if people didn't get them
done it's usually because they couldn't be contacted because the car
was not registered with honda. out of the hundreds of them i did, i
only ever saw 2 that were actually failing, and i took apart a lot of
them.
our district service manager basically said that it was no longer
open and it's our decision on whether or not to do them.
Chip

I told your California story to my buddy, to get him to replace his '97
CRV's ignition switch. 2 medias in msia say Honda msia dealers will
replace f-o-c.


Honda's new models' reliability is < Toyota & Nissan's.

unlikely to do this.

Chip Stein wrote:


That's a good point, Chip, but there seems to be a lot of communication
problems between Honda dealers and Head Office! I was _very_ specific
when I brought our USED Odyssey into the dealer (Millwoods) in Edmonton.
I told them that I wanted to make sure that Honda Canada got ALL the
info about the change of ownership so that I would be notified of any
recalls or 'whatever'. Ten months later I'm talking to Honda Canada and
they confess there's no record of me owning that vehicle.

It seems the dealer let me down (again). I'm not too thrilled with the
other two dealers in Edmonton either.

'Curly'




To REPLY: You must remove two underscores from the return address to
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Regarding stage performances: When everyone else has finished playing,
you should not play any notes you have left over. -

"George Macdonald" <fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks (AT) tellurian (DOT) com> wrote

true, since that annoying frenchie left.

we printed out a list of all vins affected in our database of
customers. then started at the top and called them all, took a long
time since we have a huge customer base. we still called the ones
that didn't come in and tried again. and we still do them under the
recall bulletin.
Honda still pays for them so it's a matter of the smaller guys
not caring.
they might not have been required to advertise it at all since it
was voluntary. any idea how much that cost them?? figure 20 bucks a
switch plus 3 to 8 tenths of an hour depending on model. i'd expect
prices of new cars to go up again next year after that one.
Chip