Christopher Means

I just got an e-mail from the service manager saying that they would pay 75% of the repair cost (they quoted me $1400 for the repair). I asked for the name and contact information of the district manager. They obviously know it's a problem. They just want to cover the cost of their own mistake.

xen-cuts

Keep hounding them until they cover 100%!!!

Christopher Means

Sadly, he won't give me the name of the district guy. I'll have to contact Acura through customer service. I don't know why they are making such a big deal out of this.

xen-cuts

wow. Refusal to give the name is comical. You can name the service dept guy in your future law suit. We should just get a class action together.

Christopher Means

If I had the time, and more importantly, the money...

I'm still hopeful that someone in the Acura organization will have a heart and treat me right.

3zero3kid

Good luck with everything!! I find it amazing how many acura dealerships are just so stubborn about this kinda stuff. I hope that I won't have to deal with this ordeal at my dealer!!

sarajones108

Hi Guys. I have the same issue and exactly the same place and a crack of same size as of Chapu08's TL, on my 04 TL dashboard. I am the second owner of the car. Bought it from a private party. It has 33,000 miles on it. Do you think I will be covered under some kind of warranty?

I think this is caused by the heat from the Navigation screen. I saw the navigation screen emitting excessive heat. let me know if your TL is Navi and how often you use the navigation? Thanks for any suggestions and replies.

Christopher Means

Hey Sara,

No good news here. I'm in the same situation as you. I'm the 2nd owner, however I purchased from a dealership and the car was certified, preowned vehicle. The dealer will not cover under the warranty, even though I showed them lots of replies on this forum where dealers around the country acknowledged the problem with the dash and replaced without a hassle. I'm trying to get help from corporate management, but no reply yet.

Let me know if you have better luck than me. It's not a problem with the NAV unit. It's bad dashboard material and they are trying not to absorb the expense of replacing them all.

sarajones108

Thanks Chris for your reply. I have contacted the Acura dealer at my place. They said that the guy who works on interiors of the car is out today and will be back on Thursday. So, I am going to contact them on 04th. Hopefully, they will fix it for me free of charge. They were nice to me when I had some other issues like airbag light staying on.

Christopher Means

Good luck. I would really like to know if they help you. It might help my case. How do you like the car, aside from that problem? I've had Toyotas, Hondas and Mazdas. I really like this car. One other minor problem - someone swung a car door open and knocked off the plastic molding that goes over the key lock part of the door handle. Since it is painted to match the body color, I'm sure it'll cost more than I want to pay.

sarajones108

The car is great as far as performance and design is concerned. The powertrain, navigation, sound system, I love them. But, they have been stingy on the interiors. The leather too is of cheap quality (Not cheaper than Nissan). I already have cracks on the seats. The leather needs lot of maintenance.

As for the door handle, I think it should cover under insurance because somebody hit your car and ran away.

As for the dashboard, we will figure out a solution if the dealers are not willing to help us even if we have to escalate this to Japan.

Please find some links below which might be of help to us in the worst case scenario

http://www.ehow.com/how_2077554_repa...dashboard.html

http://www2.zhome.com:81/ZCMnL/tech/dash.html

http://www.dashboardrestorations.com...stomdashes.htm

coreshredder

my leather on the seats sux too.. i should just throw out those shitty acura seats.. i dont even think they are comfortable... upgraded seats are def in my future on this car... alsoo.. let me add.. acura parts and service dep blowssss!!! they gave me the biggest problems with my cpo prelude i got at the acura dealership.. they gave me nothing but hell and claimed that they didnt wanna cover n e thing.. ( winshield broke the first night i got it cause i put the heater on... and the sincrone pin snapped in half after 2 weeks of owning the car.. i never even downshifted.. plus anything with transmition besides clutch is def covered .. but it took a hole month of arguing with their parts and service department for them to finally take my car in.. then it took anothor 2 months for me to get the car back from them cause they didnt know what the hell they were doing (not finding the problem, ordering the wrong parts, "sending it to a specialist", ext... ) i dont like dealing with them i rather just take shit to a local trusty mechanic.. but.. i hope ur case works out cause there is no reason that they shouldnt cover it if ur car is certified.. i would throw a fit

carlos9827

iTrader: (2)

Hey Chris, please refer to the below thread for your door handle problem. There's actually a door handle mod out there which involves replacing the part that got knocked off your car. If I understood you correctly, you need the door handle cover and according to what I understand it is not a very expensive part ($20-$30) and you can replace it yourself! They are already painted and everything. If anyone else has any additional info, please let us know.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...keyhole+shaved

Christopher Means

Hey Carlos,
Thanks for the tip on the door handle cover. This will be awesome if I can get it replaced for close to this price.

Christopher Means

Thanks Sara. I'll check the sites. I really need to find the name of the district manager for Acura. The dealer wouldn't give me the contact information. I still want the company to take care of this.

screaminz28

iTrader: (1)

Hey Chris, you have to be going to McDaniel'ss to get such poor service. I'd recommend you make a trip down to Acura of Augusta and see if they will take care of it for you. I've had nothing but EXCELLENT service from them. They give loaners as well, which McDaniels has never offered to me. I even drive to Augusta for any non-warranty work I don't do myself.

Christopher Means

You are exactly right. I've already vowed to take my car anywhere but there. I may call them about the dash and other maintenance. I thought about trying Hendrick up in Charlotte. You ever talk to them?

screaminz28

iTrader: (1)

Haven't been there. I'm in Lexington near Gilbert, so Augusta is a lot closer for me. McDaniel's can get away with what they do, and their exorbitant prices because they are the only Acura dealer in Columbia and most people simply drop their car off their and don't care how much it costs.

Christopher Means

I don't have that luxury of not caring about cost (unless I win the Powerball jackpot tomorrow night). I found my car in Charlotte at the dealership there. The sales team seemed very helpful. Of course that doesn't mean the service team would be the same. Still...might be worth a drive.

bimmerman

Mine had one crack on the passenger side, it has been repaired and unless you are looking for it you would not even notice it. I did not notice till the dealer pointed it out.

I am still going to try and contact Acura about getting it replaced in fear more are to comes later down the road.

Christopher Means

Someone in the passenger seat noticed the 1st crack, which started small, they split from front to back. Within a week I had 4 cracks, all from front to back. Two directly in front of the driver's seat, one in the middle of the dash and one directly in front of the passenger seat. It may take a hot day next summer, but if you had one, you'll probably get more.

bimmerman

Yea I am kinda worried about that. That is the main reason I am trying to figure out how to contact someone at Acura about it since some have been successfull in getting there dash replaced.

Christopher Means

Good luck. Let me know if you find out the contact info for anyone beyond the dealership level (hopefully you won't need to). My local dealer won't give me that information.

BreBar21

Stick to your guns. My dash cracked in 3 places and did nothing but get worse. It eventually ran from the top to the bottom of the dash on both sides of the passenger air bag and one in front of the cluster. My car is out of warranty as well. My service advisor said no, then the service manager said no, so I met with the regional service manager and he immediately said "we have to fix that." Super nice guy and I was extremely impressed with the service. Just don't take no for an answer.

ps, I saw the tab when I was picking up the car and I think dealer cost for everything was around $700.

Christopher Means

How did you get the name and contact info of the regional guy? The dealership here won't give me his contact info.

BreBar21

Fortunately, my dealer wasn't an asshole like yours. The Service Manager said I would have to speak with the Regional Rep. At the time, they were between reps, so it was a couple weeks before he was going to be there. They called to let me know when he was coming in. Aside from the initial argument with the SA, they were great.

In your case, I would maybe try calling corporate. They surely have a customer support line or some way of reporting dealer issues. Tell them what's going on and that you'd like to speak with the Regional rep. I think trying another dealer as previously suggested may be worth a shot as well.

Capricho

Places that sell Jacuzzi's or hot tubs usually have 303 in stock. Thats where I get mine.

sarajones108

Hi Chris. I thought you will be waiting for my reply. I did not go to the dealer today since the person who works on the interiors was not there today. hopefully by Monday evening I should have some answer. If not, I will try some other dealer around here.

Hi Chapu08. Did you get the car fixed yet? The last thing I know is you were waiting for the part. If you got it fixed already, can you please provide us any information about how long it took and how much it cost for the dealer? Thanks in advance.

sarajones108

I had been to the dealer today. The service consultant the manager expressed their sorry for such a thing on low miles car. The manager has eMailed the district manager and I hope to hear from them in a couple of days.

Audiovibe-Mike

Oh so acura puts the dashboatrd behind the bumper now eh.
Definite BS. Bumper to Bumper Means everything.

sarajones108

Today I got call from my local Acura Dealership and they said that though the warranty on my car is expired, Acura is good willing it and they have already ordered the part for me. The car will be ready tomorrow with the new dash. They also gave me the 09 TL as the loaner car. Not to mention, the 09 TL is great but the leather and the dash seem to damage sooner than the ones on 04.

ACURA IS READY TO REPLACE THE DASH WITH THE NEW ONE OUT OF GOOD WILL. I THINK IT IS JUST YOUR DEALER WHO DOES NOT WANT TO DO IT CHRIS. VISIT SOME OTHER DEALER. I AM SURE YOUR CAR WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF FREE OF CHARGE.

GOOD LUCK.

bimmerman

After TONS of google searching I found the email to the head of the customer relations for Honda over the south east. I just sent out a long email to him expressing my feeling and thought about my dash cracking considering the age and mileage of the car.

I will post up as soon as I get an answer from him.

sagreba32

Hi guys,
My car only has 37K miles and the dashboard is cracked in four places, I took the car two months ago so the dealer could see it. They told me that since the car is out of warranty they had to ask coorporate, they took some pictures and they told me that they were going to call me back. Two weeks had past and no call, so I called and they told they were still working on it. I called the third week and the guy told me that they had approved only the dashboard but then told me that I had to pay the labor which was around $600!, but he told me he was going to keep trying. Now, everytime I try to contact them the secretary tells me that the guy isn't there and that they are working on it. I think the guy is avoiding me. Can you believe that!? Two months and not a single call from them!

Do you guys think that it's time for me to call Honda directly?

VQPower37

i would ... i hate dealing with dealer's crap ... do what u have to do to get ur work done man

Christopher Means

Hey Bimmerman:
Can you get me the name of the southeast customer service guy? They turned down my request to replace the dash. I have 4 huge cracks that look like crap.

piggydog

I'm looking into buying a used 04-06 TL with navi and was wondering what places I should be looking for cracks, or signs of a crack about to occur?

Christopher Means

The cracks in my dash run from Windshield to the front of the dash. One runs along the side where the airbag deploys. Another is in the middle of the dash. I have one directly in front of the driver's side of the dash running from the windshield to the front of the dash. Another angles into that crack. This car was spotless when I bought it. 5 months later one crack started and within 2 weeks I had the 4 cracks. I just went through the whole customer care process to see if they would fix it and was turned down. And this is on a certified preowned TL. It'll be my last.

RBeachTL

Chris,

I can't tell if you have used the Acura Client services contact information:

Acura Client Services
Acura Client Services stands ready to answer questions and address concerns with your U.S. Acura vehicle. You may contact us several ways:

By Phone: (800) 382-2238
Monday through Friday, 6:00am to 5:00pm Pacific Standard time at the toll-free phone number above Roadside Assistance
(800) 594-8500
24 hours/day, 7 days/week


By Fax: (310) 783-3535

By Mail:
Acura Client Services
Mail Stop 500-2N-7A
1919 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501-2746

http://owners.acura.com/site/customer_relations.aspx

I hope this helps; they should fix this for you. You might also consider small claims court.

Christopher Means

Thanks for the info. I had just gone through the Acura Client Services process. It took 3 weeks to get an answer and I was turned down. I would like to talk to the district manager, but they won't give me a name.

05Smoke_GreyTL

Well I just seemed to have gotten attacked by the DASHBOARD gremlin too!!! I just found a crack in my dash, it goes from the center speaker to almost the steering wheel! It wasn't there yesterday and i dont live in a hot climate.....I drive an 05' AM TL AT Navi. I purchased it in Nov 08 CPO plus extended Acura Warranty and i haven't brought it in yet lets see what they say!