I have had my TSX for 10 days now and I must say I have never been more dissatisfied with a car. The rattles are out of control. I contacted the dealer tonight (saturday) and informed them of my intentions to return the car to them first thing monday morning.
Like I said I have owned the car for 10 days... Although it has been in the dealer shop for 5 of those days getting the rattles worked on. I pick it up today and guess what??? You guessed more rattles and some have gotten worse.

I have no idea what they will do when I bring the car back but I seriously doubt I will get my money back. So I guess I am looking into either a trade out for a new tsx or a trade up for a tl.

 

All the rattles can be fixed. And yes, they are out of control. Good luck.

 

Rattles are highly subjective. I own a 97 Toyota 4x4 that's had the crap kicked out of it offroad for years. Some would say it has a lot of rattles but they really don't bother me, even on 300 mile trips.....

Could you describe these "rattles"? Are they really high pitched or something?

And no, the lemon law doesn't apply for rattles.....

 

I own a '96 4Runner and the fan makes an annoying high pitch squeal when turned on in the low setting. Otherwise, the truck is quieter than my TSX... (except for wind and engine noise).

 

you know seriously, all cars have some noises rattles or whatever you want to call it. it pisses me off to hear people always complaining about it. try turning the radio to about volume 12 and set your bass at +3 and forget about it.
the only way you hear rattles in a TSX is if you drive around witht he A/C off, the radio off and just listen for somthing to complain about.
i would consider my car rattle free even though the bass tends to rattle the door panels a little.
also you will find that anything you put in the door pockets even paper will make noise when the bass hits.

 

That's true. I keep my door pockets empty because anything will make noise when parked in there.

 

wow this is 2005 model ? still rattles huh.
sorry to hear that. Did you hear any rattle while testing the demo ?

 

Consider yourself lucky. The TSX (04 and 05) has rattle issues that are posted all over this forum. As I said, they can be fixed (I had all the rattles and my car is quiet now) and once they are, the TSX is back to being a great car.

 

I also have a 2005 Load Chevy Equinox that I paid 21K for.... Let me tell you... 9,000 miles late and not one rattle... Guess I should have just bought a chevy instead of a foreign luxury car that you pay more for just based upon its excellent history of quality. If I wanted rattles I would have bought a friken mazda 6.

 

Although I think the rattle "problem" is extremely over-hyped on these forums, I understand your complaint and hope everything works out for you.

 

Pretty soon you'll be pissed about the Chevy too, with more problems than a minor rattle.

 

I agree, people look for shit to complain about. Rattles, license plates rattles, headlights uneven, exhaust uneven. I think some people need to look into buying a Bentley or Rolls if you're looking for total satisfaction, and even then you might not get it.

 

I realize nothing is perfect.... My goal is to have my tsx swapped out for a new one... trust me when i say the amount of rattles my car has is very abnormal. I may upgrade to a TL who knows. I am in no way trying to slam the TSX as I know many of you are proud owners. I hope that very soon I can enjoy the same level of satisfaction.

I realize nothing is perfect.... hell i have been on multi million dollar brand new business jets that have had problems.... Its just part of mechanics.

 

[QUOTE=gosuns]I realize nothing is perfect.... My goal is to have my tsx swapped out for a new one... QUOTE]

I doubt this will happen over some rattles.

 

Rattles are trivial, the dealer should be able to do something.

 

My TSX rattles a little when I have the sunroof headliner thing open, but is silent when I have it slid forward and closed up.

 

If your unsatisfied with the car theres no reason they cant swap it for a new car.Infact its your right to be completely satisfied with the car.

 

It's your right to be satisfied, but I can guarantee there won't be any swapping unless a huge mechanical error is found.

 

Dealer seemed willing to make things right when i talked to them via the phone. I have full confidence that they will meet my demands to make me a statisfied customer.

If they won't I will sell the TSX with 600 miles on it and go do what I was leaning toward doing the whole time and buy the Benz C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan.

 

That car is so cramped. I felt like a basketball player in that car, and I'm 5'8.

Good luck swapping your TSX.

 

It's stories like that that put fear into all of us potential TSX buyers. All we can seem to hope for is getting one of the rattle free ones as so many of you have.

 

If cost is no object and you can trade in cars every time something isn't perfect with one, then more power to you. I wish I could do that; I'd keep trading in Mini Cooper S's till I found a good one .

I understand that you want your car to be perfect, especially since it's brand new, but that is not likely to happen, with this car or any other car.

I bought a TSX as part of a long line of Honda/Acura vehicles. I've been fortunate in that I've never had any of my dozen or so Hondas ever leave me stranded or have something not work. But I do not go around saying that they are perfect. The passenger side power window on my Civic Si was much slower than the driver's side, but I chose to live with it rather than risk the potential for greater damage by having a dealer yank it apart. Even my TSX seems to have the slow start problem when the temp is in the 0 range, but realistically, with the oxygenated gas and the temperatures, I'm not really sure this is the car's fault. I even turned down my radio to listen for rattles, and sure enough, when its really cold out, there are a couple of rattles. I never would have known about them if I hadn't read about them here. But I bet if I had the dealer try to fix them, he would add a few more.

All I'm saying is, give the car a chance. You're going to take a major loss if you trade it in now; a month or two isn't going to change that (unless you happen to drive thousands of miles per month.)

If you were to go to MB World for example, you would find plenty of threads like this with unsatisfied C230 owners and quotes like this:

Same thing with TLs. Any car you buy has the potential to give you problems.

But I believe that long term, the TSX is likely to have less problems than most cars. Good luck with whatever you choose......

 

I must be lucky or deaf, my 05 has 1100 miles and no rattles.

 

Did you test drive the car before you signed the papers? I can't believe the ratlles are so bad now that they could not be heard on a simple test drive.

 

Mine is rattle free, always has been. The only "rattles" I have ever heard in this car were when I left something in the map pockets and then turned the music up high. Also, the passenger side seatbelt was not fully retracted one day and the plastic on the clip was hitting the side of the pillar between the front and the back seats.

I'd really like to hear some detailed descriptions of what these rattles sound like and where they are coming from. Most of the time when people post complaining about rattles, there are little or no details.

 

It is your right to be completely satisfied with the car, but the path the dealer chooses to make you completely satisfied is up to them. Meaning if they refuse to swap out the car, you're probably going to have to wait to let them fix all of the rattles. Its probably not going to come down to you being able to demand a new car and then actually getting one. Anyway, best of luck.

 

Any dealer has to swap trhe car if your not happy with it and demand a new car.Ofcourse there never going to tell you that.

 

Please site your source for that info. AFAIK, the dealer is obligated to fix any problems under the warranty agreement. The only law which requires the dealer to replace or buy back the car is the lemon law. Even then, the extent of the lemon law protection can vary from state to state.

 

By law you have some time to return. But I think its 5 days....

 

I guess it depends on the dealership. The dealers that I've been to won't let you test drive a brand new car. Instead, they have a few demo cars for test drives. However, you can start the engine or fully inspect the car you are purchasing for flaws before signing the papers.

 

Good post, Lanny. I think some of us lose perspective on these things. Just cruise any number of member forums for various marques. You'll find some problem or another with just about all models.

It is, after all, a machine made by men. No perfection here.

 

I test drove in the summer, when things are hot and humid. The infamous "windshield/dashboard" rattle only shows up when temperatures are colder and the air is dry. It is worse than any squeak or rattle I've had on any car I've ever owned when it gets bad. In the past week I've done a long (800 mile each way) drive on rough western interstate in "perfect" rattle conditions and it was all but unbearable. I've done the same drive dozens of times before in two different Audis, a Saab and a BMW and never experienced anything that comes close to the poor fit and finish as exhibited in the rattling from the dash/windshield on this one. Truth is, I've driven rented Hyundai that have had less rattling and creaking.

It's going to the dealer to be fixed. If they can't fix it, it'll be sold and it'll be the first and last vehicle I'll ever buy from Honda/Acura. That kind of thing is, IMO, unacceptable in a passenger vehicle at any price given today's manufacturing and testing technology, let alone in a vehicle sold under a purported "luxury" marque.

It is completely unacceptable for anybody to tell me "just turn up the radio and you won't notice." First, at 75-85mph, that creak and rattle is noticable above the radio unless you're blasting it. Second, I don't listen to particularly bassy music (think Jazz, Classical) and sure as hell don't want to distort it just to cover up the car's shortcomings...

 

I couldn't agree more. I truly hope the dealer is able to resolve your issues quickly.

 

Yeah, well being (among other things) a quality control manager has made me really sensitive to companies that do things right vs. those that don't. Sadly, this vehicle is making me believe that Honda no longer does things "right."

 

My car hasn't had any rattles so far (1,200 miles) but it does have an annoying squeak in the center of the dash that occurs when driving over bumps and slightly rough roads.

I had noticed a few rattles, but they weren't really defects. I thought I had the speaker rattle when I started hearing rattling on the right front door w/ bass heavy music, but then I realized that the seatbelt was twisted a bit and not fully retracted. After retracting the seatbelt, rattle went away. I had a dash rattle that turned out to be a loose pair of sunglasses.

As for people having a right to be fully satisfied, that's simply not true. It is up to each dealer to decide how they will work with you. IMO, I have been dissatisfied with the level of service at my Acura dealer and service center. They are definitely a notch below my local Honda and Nissan dealers and several notches below the 2 Infiniti dealers I used to take my old car to.

Also, not all states have a "cooling off period" in which you can take the car back for a refund within a few days. For instance, California doesn't have it. Once you sign the paperwork, the car is yours.

I hope those of you having problems with your TSX have better luck at your Acura dealers.

 

Hey Venice, post back on this thread to let us know how it goes at the dealer. I work in quality assurance as well, so I'm sympathetic to anyone having to deal with quality issues in any type of consumer product.

I'd urge you to have a bit more faith in Honda products. I'd probably be just as pissed as you are if I were the one in your shoes, but its a widely accepted fact that Honda produces high quality products and has for *at least* 2 decades. Other than the TSX rattles, which do seem to be widespread, there isn't overwhelming evidence that their quality control has taken a nosedive in the past few years. Any other car manufacturer has their fair share of recalls, component failures, general quality control issues, etc.

 

My '05 has 1900 miles and it is totally silent. No squeeks no nothing. Tight running machine.

As far as other common gripe on here with the youngsters- traction in the corners: I live in Michigan, cold as hell and lots of snow. TSX does great in the snow......... you just have to drive like you have some common sense on ice and snow. In other words, slow down. We also have an audi A-6 quattro, which of course does better in deep snow, but the TSX is just fine for most winter driving.

 

I aint so-lucky one. I hear rattles from passenger side, windshield, and squeak from the center console. and now, rattles from sunroof and driver side. I wonder how i can describe all these to dealer since they come and go time to time..

 

If I were you, I wouldn't be so anxious to trade up to a TL...I had my TSX in getting the windshield replaced and had a TL loaner for 3 days. That car had more rattles in it than I've ever heard - plus, in the extremely cold weather, the tire actually seperated from the rim (a common problem with the TL I'm told).

I've had my TSX for almost 2 years now (it will be 2 years in May) and I've had NO (nada, non, zero, zilch) rattles.

Good luck!

 

I totally agree with you. This may also be my absolute first and LAST honda product. I'm sick of trying to explain what type of rattle is coming from what part of the interior at what times of the day.

Again, my sentiments exactly. Those morons who make such comments on this forum sound like indifferent dumbasses who don't have a TSX or even a dealer trying to downplay the seriousness of this issue.

I will be taking in my TSX [again] tomorrow to get these elusive rattles taken care of.