Dan

Vinyl material on front of drivers seat has developed a tear where it flexes when you get in and out. Also both door panels are coming apart near the power window switches. I can push it back together but it pops right back out. These are only the 3rd & 4th problems I have with the interior, after a ill fitting airbag cover and non-functioning auto dimming mirror. Seems a little early, 3 ½ years & 44,000 miles, to be having problems with the interior. Guess that is what the warranty is for.
Dan

shaHn78

Made in the good ol' USA

gsrblack

I've had mine for 1 year and my driver's side panel peeled away also...they replaced the armrest under warranty. Hopefully it won't happen anymore on either side.

My vinyl is still okay....a bit wrinkled, but as long as I keep it clean and conditioned, I think it'll be okay.

tmk70

They replaced my entire driver's seat under warranty due to cracking. Take it in to the dealer.

Dan

Well everything got fixed Saturday. Now it gets to go back again, so the can replace the plastic piece on the arm rest they scrached all to hell when they removed it. I wonder, did they not see the gouges, or was it a case of send it out and lets see if the customer says anything? Damn I like taking my car to the dealer
Dan

TypeSKid

Yup, this is why I won't ever buy another acura again. Dealership BULLSHIT.

zamo

sorry to hear that. Bad luck.

russianDude

My door pannel (near security light) is also getting kind of loose and moves when I push on it. It is not very bad, I have another problem. Something is loose inside the pannel (in the area of security red light). Every time I go over bumps something is clicking inside.
Yes, I am not impressed with Acura interior quality either.

lrutt

I fail to see how the fact that it's built in the USA has anything to do with crappy materials spec'd by Honda engineering, how ill-fitting plastic pieces made by molds designed by Honda engineering, and how an assembled auto produced in a Japanese quality process environment have anything to do with the good ol USA. Now the scratched up armrest is bullshit, but so was that USA remark.

russianDude

I used to belive that Japanse build cars are of superior quality compared to US. And I indeed belive this was the case 9-10 years ago. But now you could hardly see any difference. Nissan Maxima '03 is built in Japan, but it rattles the same as my CLS.
Toyota Camry has been built in USA for many years, and yet its ranked the highest in quality and reliability for many years( higher than a lot of Japanse builds.... take for example Mitsubishi... its quality is not even close to Honda or Toyota (check out consumer reports like www.jdpower.com ).
If I had a choice I would prefer Japanse brand to be made in Japan, but its just a matter of preference.... it does not automaticly guarantee a superior quality...

Intresting to note, while Toyota is build in USA, Lexus (upper end model) is still build in Japan. And Lexus is trully a champion in all consumer reviews as far as quality and reliability over the long term. So maybe there is some connection, but there is no guarante....

The theory about Japanse build being superior falls uppart when you talk about CLS transmission made in Japan, and CLS engine made in USA. Who is having problems??? I dont seem to recall any single engine failure while there are thousands of dead transmissions.


PS. I'd like to kick in the balls all car manufactures for ignoring to address rattling issues.

DivinDude

yeah .. acura's interior design group must have been taking notes from the GM engineers who developed the interiors for 1980-1990's GM products. I too will never buy another Acura and seriously doubt the longevity of my '03s interior .. it's crap .. squeaks ... rattles .. tears .. misfits .. and the dealer looks at you and shrugs .. blahhh

Shawn S

From what I read over at Acura-TSX site while we were down, their Japan built cars seem to be RATTLE-TRAPS too.
I also read many posts about easy paint chipping.
So much for the Acura Japan theory.

I say FAWK-IT…. Turn up the volume if rattles bother you that much.

Shawn S

PS…. Where’s the new TL going to be built ???

Nicky Pass

Germans build cars solid as a rock! Probably because they are soooooo strict!!! All of my dad's Mercedes felt like the were built so well....no rattles, the leather always stayed nice.....I WANT A CLK 500!!!!!

Sarlacc

The TSX has a minor rattle in the doors that the dealer will fix, but i wouldnt call it a rattle trap. But other then that the interior quality is far superior to that of the usa acuras and hondas. I have a CL and right now im driving a brand new tsx as a dealer loaner and this car is solid. Even the plastic pieces are beefier and more solid. The freaking lid for the cupholders is nice and thick and works well compared to the thin bouncy plastic of the CL.

I truly belive at least with honda the japanese built cars are the better ones.

CL P Diddy

Damn, I just posted a thread (unknowingly) on the same topic.
My driver side armrest is coming apart at the seam.

Man, if the IS 300 wasn't so small, ES 300 wasn't so ugly and 328ci wasn't so expensive........... Quality, Smuality, I'll never buy another Acura. Well an NSX maybe.

lilfeat

Gee, do you think that the CLK 5 liter is more solid because it costs tens of thousands of dollars more? My mother in law has a new E320. It is much nicer than my neighbors ford taurus. I wonder why.

Since we are comparing apples to oranges, how does that CLS interior stack up against a Suzuki Swift?

My Acura has been close to flawless. I don't beat it and I left it the way the engineers designed it.

The Germans build Audis, right? Have you seen JD Powers? Talk to anybody with a Passat?

CL P Diddy

I think somebody missed the point.

japanese car = quality
honda = quality
acura = better be better than honda
NOT necesarily the case = I feel gipped.

Tosh

I would also like to go on record for having the same exact problems on my 2001 CL-S as the rest of you: I don't think my interior auto dimming mirror has ever worked, my door panels are warping away from the panel with the window switches, and I have rattles from the parcel shelf and one especially annoying one from behind the left rear side trim right behind my ear, it seems. And of course, my brake discs have warped again. (But tranny's OK so far.) So today I have an appointment to see the dealer. Ugh! The first and only time I've been there (at 34000mi), the service writer Wayne at Ferman Acura in Tampa pretended not to know anything about the service bulletin for the warped brakes until I showed it to him, I guess hoping to bill me AND Acura, but that's a story that belongs in another thread...
Some speculation and observations: First of all, I couldn't persuade my dad to buy an Acura after the transmission problems became so prevalent. My best defense was " but it only happens to about 2%..." So he bought an IS300 Sportcross. Very nice and tight, but not near as fast or tasteful as the CL-S.
Anyhow, I think the parcel shelf and the speakers just needs some serious stiffening and damping. I tapped on and around the shelf from inside the trunk until I decided it was coming directly from the speakers themselves. And it was: I removed the grills, and it seems the 6x9 speaker basket was vibrating against the edge of the hole and against the plastic spacers on them. So I used some rope caulk to dampen them. That helped a lot. I also stuffed some foam up through some of the holes around the center brake light, and that helped some more.
I think the rattle in the left rear side panel is either from the seat belt recoil mechanism or from something around the same location. Banging on the panel sometimes recreates the same ticking sound. One day I'll look further....
I'll let you guys know what happened at the dealer today. I'm going to ask for new discs. Ha! Otherwise it goes out of warranty (I'm at 48000) with the same warped discs just being masked by another brake job and turning the discs...

Tosh

PS I still think this is an awesome car, and I grin every time I get in it. And no matter how annoying, I think it says something when we so consistently have exactly the same problems: One measure of quality is how uniformly repeatable are the deviations from the norm. And I would say our cars are all very much alike! After all, we all seem to have the same exact half dozen problems. Now if only the dealers and the Acura beancounters would be as consistent....