kingofbytes

Hi All,
recently the wife popped a tire in her MDX and I had to go out and change to the spare.

I jacked up the car (I've done automotive work in the past so I'm not inexperienced with this), and took off the tire. As I moved to go get the spare, the jack bent and then the MDX slammed on the ground. My wife and daughter were inside the vehicle at the time. It was scary.

Anyway, at that point I had to use my Chevy Suburban's jack which worked a treat and let me <safely> change to the spare.

I spoke with the dealer the next day and they said I needed to call customer service. I called customer service and spoke with James. He said there was nothing they could do.

I said, you can replace the underspec'd faulty jack that you've included in my certified vehicle. He told me I can write a letter. I told him I can also consider Mercedes Benz, BMW and Porsche for my next car purchase as well as told him that GM apparently makes more stable and safer jacks for their cars.

He was silent then got a little nervous and repeated the address to mail the letter.

So I'm wondering if anyone out there has any advice they can share that would get Acura back in my good graces. btw, I happen to own a late model RL as well. My current feeling is that Acura doesn't give a bleep about customers AFTER the sale. Oh, and I provided some pics of the bent jack that I wanted replaced....for your edification.

Thoughts?

wrestrepo

Acting a the devil's advocate here, it sounds like you messed up during the tire change, and that perhaps, the "bending" of the jack is/was your fault. I don't think that Acura (dealer or corporate) owe you anything.....Unless the jack was messed up prior to the tire change.
I would simply go to Sears or any other automotive store and buy a proper jack, they are not all that expensive...we all know that OEM jacks aren't good for JackSht.

kingofbytes

Thanks for the feedback. Funny my Suburban's jack was up to the task no problem. Wonder how I didn't screw that one up....

Back to my original question about what Acura can do to get back into my good graces.....

wrestrepo

You don't need to be sarcastic, and is not funny. You didn't screw it up because you were aware of what had happened earlier and were more careful, or maybe your wife and daughter got out of the car and stopped moving while you were doing the job, maybe you locked the wheels as you were supposed to do it in the first place, maybe you put on the parking brake, maybe whatever distance the car was going to move it did by the time you tried with the Suburban's jack, maybe the suburban jack is more stable.....maybe, just maybe, you did it right the second time around.

Take it from someone who has done a ton of tire changes, and that has dropped a car more than once, every single time that it happened it was my fault, not the equipment's fault. Even working with leaky hydraulic jacks, the equipment was never at fault. IF what you are trying to suggest is that you were changing the tire, and while the car was up in the air, the jack simply, without anything else happening, started bending and fell to the ground, I'm not buying that story. And just as a lesson learned, you put your spare tire on the ground, underneath the car, thus preventing the disc from slamming onto the pavement (I learned that the hard way)

You want Acura to be in graces with you? What is it you want? a new jack? here is one on ebay for $23.

There is such a thing as being unreasonable.....

kingofbytes

The response was designed to bring the topic back on track instead of the petty snide little nonsequitur you setup for yourself.

You clearly don't have an Acura customer service experience to share which is what the whole post was after. Please don't respond if you don't have experience with Acura CS.

I suppose I'll steer clear of your friendly and helpful pontificating and posturing for the time being.

If ANYONE else has some tips they used with Acura CS, I'm all ears.

Domm

On a different note, any damage to the car? Hopefully theres no front axle damage or anything else.

Were you on a sloped surface when you jacked up your car?

If nothing was damaged and they refuse to replace the jack, I think you should just buy a better jack and also consider carrying some jack stands with you if you are still unsure about the reliability of a scissor jack (They worry me as well). You can pursue legal action, but over a jack? It'd be a waste of your own time/money and it'd be tough, for your case at least, to defend your claim because there was really no proof that you didn't make a mistake (not saying you did).

You still have your health and everyone is safe

Domm

I'm still new here and I did not realize I could not edit my post, so my apologies for double posting.

Don't think too much about it simply being Acura dealerships screwing their customers. It happens to everyone and with every brand of vehicle. Mercedes and BMW being one of the worst and by worst, I mean they have the most to lose so they need to deny a lot unless you're still under factory warranty. Heck, Mercedes' transmission cost about $9,000 to replace, so you can imagine the cost they incur if they replaced everything free of charge. I'm getting off topic, but you can see that if they replace your jack, they admit fault and might have to replace any possible damage to your axle, bumper, etc.

wrestrepo

As a matter of fact I do have experience with Acura CS, and as far as I know I can comment on whatever thread I want.

I'll wait for someone to agree with you.....

larso1

My experience....yah, I've bent an OEM scissor jack by raising the car on a slight slope. And yes, I had the E-brake on but apparently it didn't do the intended job. This was on a Nissan.

I bought a beefy 3-ton capacity scissor jack at Sears as a replacement, works great. I like scissor jacks, they slip under minimal clearance conditions. A bottle jack is a pain when you don't have the clearance. I would not have passengers in the car while doing this.