SWOBERT

Last Friday the clock, radio, and HVAC displays on my non-navi 2004 TSX (16K miles) went out. I immediately went to this fantastic board and not only found out that this has happened to a lot of TSX owners, but I also got the TSB for the problem! Thank you! But that is not what this is about. I called McDaniels Acura in Charleston, explained the problem and even gave the service department the TSB number. They said I could bring my TSX in on Wednesday of this week. I asked if I could have a loaner and they said it wouldn't be necessary because this repair would only take 30 minutes. I was skeptical that it would only take 30 minutes to complete the repair, so I asked if they were sure. The service department confidently replied that they had seen this before and it could be fixed in 30 minutes.

Today I brought my TSX in. Initially, the service department could not locate the TSB, but fortunately I brought a printed copy I had made from this message board. After looking at my car and talking with the service manger for about 5 minutes they told me that they would have to order the necessary parts and I would need to bring the car back in about a week to get the repair completed. I asked how long it would take to perform the repair and I was told several hours!

I asked to see the service manager and I asked him if the parts weren't on hand when I made the appointment why they weren't ordered then? He stated that they weren't allowed to order the parts until they verified the problem in person. That would have been nice to know when I made the appointment last Friday! I could have easily brought the car last Friday for ten minutes to have them verify the problem. Instead, I will now lose TWO days of work instead of just one.

There are two reasons I bought an Acura:

1) Acura's had a repution of not breaking. With the center console display failing at 16K miles, that expectation has not been met.

2) Acura had a reputation of providing better service. That expectation has not been met either.

I have a 2001 Acura MDX that will need replacing soon. The Lexus SUV's are starting to look better and better....

ExHack

All cars break. At least, with Acuras, the failures are few and usually pretty predictable.

It sounds like your dealer's service dep't is more the problem. I know you're frustrated and understandably so, but changing out dealers is probably the better fix.

SWOBERT

ExHack, is this a Acura Corporate policy not to order parts until the problem is verified or is this a dealership specific policy? If it is a corporate policy then switching dealerships won't help.

As for reliability, I bought a '91 Miata new and just sold it last year. After over 100,000 miles I had NOTHING break. Regularly scheduled maintenance and gas - that's it. I didn't even have a single light bulb burn out. And to be fair to Acura, my 2001 MDX now has over 70,000 miles and has had nothing break - knock on wood. These days, the expectation in the luxury car market is no failures before 100,000 miles. If a luxury car brand can't meet that expectation, it will lose sales. And when the rare failure does occur, it is their opportunity to either save the day with exceptional service or lose the customer forever. This is where brand loyalty is won or lost.

HoRRo

Speaking of luxury car failure (or lack of), my aunt has a 1.5yr old C230 Kompressor with only 65,000 KM and just recently, 3 "malfunctions" on it. I believe it was the traction control and 2 other things. In general, I find that kinda unreliable, considering all I needed to do on my 94 accord (335,000km, sold last month for the TSX) was normal maintenance.

foolioness

Older cars made to last... they have less wondefull gadgets. On the other hand, new cars.... with added safety features and gadgets tend to break more. Remember the more features or components on a device or vehicle, the more likely it will fail first. Same principle with cell phones.....

I know its frustrating for all of us going to dealers and they end up screwing us over, but its the same almost everywhere. Yes even Mercedes.... been there done that... promised things that they cannot keep.

Soryr to hear your incident

ExHack

I could asstalk and tell you I know, but I don't. Can anyone in the room answer this man's question?

I've never heard of any such policy, from any manufacturer. What makes me suspect this is an isolated dealer problem is the totally unprofessional way they handled the whole incident (confidently overpromising a turnaround time, scheduling you for a repair when, if that's their policy, they knew they wouldn't be able to get it done.) If it were me, I'd call Honda Motor America and report 'em. HMA should also be able to tell you that (I'd expect) that's not a Honda-sanctioned policy. Sometimes even the threat of escalating gets a lousy service department off its ass. My partner had a similar experience at the Nissan dealership where his truck got serviced, he sent their service manager a polite but aggressive email detailing their failure and his intent to escalate if he didn't get resolution, and got a response in good order. (They still found a way to foul up their second chance, so the truck will be going elsewhere, but at least they took the opportunity to try to re-earn our business.) However, this service manager sounds too stupid to be helped. If you want to give the dealer one more shot, escalate to the GM of the dealership before going to HMA.

ExHack

Too true. Recently I incurred a good $1K+ worth of suspension and wheel damage by accidentally running the TSX onto the road shoulder. Jeezus, I remember taking the Legend over rebars in parking lots a couple times by accident, and that old girl just kept going and going like the Energizer bunny! Truly, that is a car I miss.

stryker2

You're not alone, in the problem you experienced with the car (I had the disappearing center display, too), the frustration with how Acura handles these manufacturing defects (reactive rather than proactive, wasting more of customers' time), and the souring of enthusiasm for the H/A brand. My experience has been that practically every issue that H/A/ has issued a TSB for, has shown up in my car.

Case in point: I had water visible in one of the headlamps after a rainstorm. The water had dried by the time I brought the car in; Acura tech said wait until it's visible again. Rain again a few days later, headlight shorts out, I wind up driving several days with only one light until I can bring it back in.

Now I have the squeaking clutch for which no one seems to have a solution. I won't buy a 1st year H/A ever again, and if things keep on going as they have once the car is off warranty, I'll probably be ready to lose the "1st year" qualification. H/A, if you're reading this: You're blowing it.

Eeyore

Taken directly from Service Bulletin 04-021:

"CORRECTIVE ACTION
Replace the audio unit. Refer to S/B 87-015, Audio Unit
In-Warranty Exchange/Out-of-Warranty Repair.
If a client calls ahead to schedule an appointment, and
the vehicle is in the affected VIN range, order the
remanufactured audio unit right away so it is available
when the client comes in."

So, they SHOULD have had the part ready to go if they knew your VIN, and your VIN was in the affected range.

LalchandYamlajat

Dude, chill. Same thing happend three times to me. Now everything works fine.

drkangel348

I can tell you right now that you wont find that much better service with Lexus dealerships. Each dealership is different, its hard to find a good dealership with any brand of car. Service is really dependant on individual dealerships. My girlfriend was treated badly with her BMW at Assael BMW in CA. Also all cars tend to have their problems, but thank god *knocks on wood* even after 40000 mi's on my TSX I have yet to have a serious problem other than condensation in the headlights and having my LEDs on the side mirror that is used for the turn signal go out. All replaced and fixed under warranty of course. My GF's BMW has had worse issues (ignition coil issues, side door motor went out, etc).

SWOBERT

Eeyore, Thanks for bringing that up! I even told them the TSB number when I was on the phone to make the appointment! One thing all corporations must realize is that damage to their reputation resulting from bad service to one customer is no longer limited to that one customer and their family or friends. Due to the internet and message boards like this one, a mistake by one dealership to one individual can be made known to potential customers around the world on the same day. For luxury and niche products which succeed or fail on this type of word of mouth, no amount of advertising can counteract it. On the other side, positive stories posted on the web can create a "cult" following for a brand or product that no advertising budget can buy.

Bottom line: If any luxury car maker thinks that the interaction of ONE of their dealerships with ONE of their customers can not effect the company as a whole - they are sadly mistaken and need to join the rest of us in the 21st century. If I ran a dealership, I would make sure that one of my managers (if not myself) scoured the message boards DAILY for feedback from customers from around the country about my product and service. The fact that many dealerships clearly do not do this simply astounds me.

sveet

BMW's arn't considered a pillar of reliability. Acura should be and expected to have better raliability than BMW. BMW's forte is being a "drivers car".

Do you have direct experience with Lexus??? I do. I have had two Lexus trucks and have delt with two different dealerships. They both exceed the Acura service department experiece by ALOT. Not to mention the simple fact that my Lexus's only were at the dealer about 3 times total, as opposed to my TSX which been back to the dealer at least 10 times covering over 5 significant problems.

Sure, the engine didn't blow up or a transmission die, but the problems have been significant. Alot of you think that cars all have problems. You should expect better. I have had many cars, some even domestic, that have been built significantly better than my TSX.

Lexus is simply several levels above Acura in the areas of Quality and Dealership experience. Anybody I know that has experienced both will agree.

Rocket_man

I've had a BMW E46 for 5 years now and I'll agree that they aren't the most reliable cars in the world but they sure are fun to drive. But I will say that every BMW service department I've been to (2 in LA and 2 in TX) have been outstanding. The problem is that I've had too much experience at BMW service centers! Until my last visit though, none of it has cost me a dime because of the excellent maintenance coverage. Sometimes I'd bring my car in for service and they will replace parts I didn't even know were faulty. Recently I evacuated Houston for Rita. I found myself in Dallas. The day before we were supposed to come back to Houston I split a power sterring hose. Luckily there was a dealer right near our hotel (Classic BMW in Richardson). I brought it in 30 minutes before closing, they fed me some snacks and drove me to the hotel. Called me first thing in the morning and told me the problem and the cost and had it fixed by Noon. They picked me up 15 min later.. the service guys opened the car door for me even before the car came to a stop... and after parting with $320 I was on my way in a washed and vacuumed car. I've never had a better service experience at any dealership (2 hondas, 1 toyota) ever before. Unfortunately I need to get rid of the car before it costs me a small fortune to keep running. That's why I'm looking at the 06 TSX.. best value in a sporty package car I've found. And at $10K cheaper than a similarly equiped BMW, a few maintenace problems are within the budget. I hope my local Acura dealer (Champion in Houston) has decent service. Too bad I just can't assume good service because t is Acura.