Kaputnik

I try to use my 2008 RDX minimally, but I still do. I'll be traveling for the entire summer starting early May, so I don't want to bother with there rental at this time. Northern California - dry and not too hot.

Have there been any Takata-related deaths in an Acura? I guess if there are far more Hondas out there compared to Acuras, and the overall risk is low, there may not be, as of yet.

MDX07

Bravo!!!
Finally a reasonable human being and not a cry baby !!!!

jimihaha

Thanks! I'm very interested. I will file my claim later.


I called Enterprise locations in our area this weekend, they still don't have much cars to offer. They said they have a pick up truck and a minivan. One of the negatives living in a very populated area.

jimihaha

So Acura Client Relations called me just now after I sent them an email 2 weeks ago. Same BS.


They pretty much shot down the idea of applying the rental allowance to a new RDX. And I told them to get me in a comparable rental or loaner. He said he will try to contact my dealer but no guarantees.


Oh well, I'm wondering how do other car manufacturers (Lexus, BMW, MB, Audi) are handling this. Do their customer get a comparable loaner? or do they get the same sh*t?

hovbuild

I live in NH and the garage is heated to a point. There is a lot of humidity out there with all the snow melt that comes off the car. I'll keep the bmw rental, not costing anything and way more car than the rdx. I just figure less miles on both our cars since I will be driving the rental.

MDX07

They get the same sh*t.

MDX07

😢😢😢

andysinnh

The humidity that causes the issues with the ignitor unit is long term, continuous humidity (think FL, TX) and high heat situations - as it starts to really stress both the metal casing and react with the tainted materials that actually explode when the airbag is activated. NH, while seeing occasional humidity, does not fall into the demographic where the airbag integrity is being exposed.

And how you got a BMW in NH is beyond me..... :-)

andy

hovbuild

LOL Lots of old yuppies from ma here. I sort of missed the aggressive front end bite of a German car even the older Acura's. I went by the lexus dealership and commandeered a new rx just to compare. I like buying my cars now two years used so I am comparing for a future purchase. The bmw is nice but I have been won over by Lexus because of ride quality and reliability. The 12 thousand in price difference no way makes the bmw worth it. The new 16 rx is better handling than my 12 but a tad under the bmw and the performance gain in the new lexus is great. The bmw is ranked lower than the new rx and with a 12,000 difference not worth it to me.
So being lucky to get such a nice rental I thought it wise to compare the two. I also tried a 16 rdx and was surprised they listened to the complaints about some of the cheap routes they took and changed some things.

JOE COOL

my wife has 2013 rdx. she got a recall letter. i called acura and opened a case. i then called dealer twice still no reply to my message left.im seking for info on replacement vehicle. and if acura is extending the warranty to compensate for vehicle being off the road for x amount of time.

i live in new york and im hearing parts will be here this summer. thats anywhere from 2 1/2 months to 5 1/2/ months. a 6 month manufacturer warranty extension would be fair. i will call acura to discuss it. anyone go that route already, or have an info on anyone who did?

Acura604

FYI,

the waiver they 'force' you to sign when obtaining a rental vehicle:

JOE COOL

can the rent a car be used by other family members in the household,
or is it limited to the owner?

mrgold35

I had a scanned copy of the wife's driver's license and added her to the rental agreement. Since we are paying for the insurance, I don't see why you couldn't add a family member to the rental agreement? My insurance coverage with USAA for me and my family (me, wife, 18 yr old kid) follows me 100% with a rental vehicle. Not sure if I'm covered if someone outside of my insurance drove/wrecked the rental (like my 30 yr old daughter).

lbotez

I was told that the owners of the car (in my case, my husband and I) could drive the rental, but no one else. Unless you add them as additional drivers, and that costs money. I would call your enterprise dealer and confirm that.

So far, I am the only driver of the rental car; my husband is driving our other Acura TL that had the airbag inflator fixed last year.

dabeags

Just a datapoint as I have been tracking this thread as I was looking to purchase a 2013-15 RDX.


Dealer I am working with just contacted me this week saying they recieved some replacement airbag parts but that they are VIN specific, so he wanted to check to see if any of the VINs matched vehicles I am interested in.


Looks like some parts might be coming in earlier than expected.

lbotez

The RDX got some 23K replacement parts sent out to dealers this month, but seems like they are all going to dealer cars. That's why they are VIN specific. But yeah, you might be able to buy one of those cars that gets the replacement inflators soon.

markAZ

Check your rental agreement. It's usually specified there.

JOE COOL

il just ask acura.....im gonna call them to request a warranty extension for at least the amount of time my vehicle is off the road..which could possibly be around 6 months.

dirleton

Sounds very reasonable.

hovbuild

Does a car depreciate more for time or mileage? It would seem like the less mile you put on it the longer it should hold a better value.

ceb

Yes and no. The "average" depreciation is calculated by age using the "average" number of miles driven a year by the "average" person (between 12 and 15k miles a year).

Accordingly, a 1 year old car with 13k miles would use the standard book depreciation with money added for lower mileage and money subtracted for higher mileage.

Let's say, for example, that you drive more than usual (me) and have 20k on your car. At the one year mark, my car is worth less than "average" but if it sits for a half year then the mileage is "normal".

The question of course is if a car with higher mileage now is worth less than a car with normal mileage in a half year.

More importantly, having a car sit for a half year doesn't do it any good. Batteries die, tires flat spot and can dry rot, the interiors start smelling funky and the paint can get all wonky.

If it is sitting at the dealer (and you've done a thorough walk around before you dropped it off) then the dealer is on the hook for making sure that the car you get back is in the same condition - but - if the car is sitting in your garage I can see all sorts of issues arising when you have dead batteries and moldy interiors.

lbotez

New York Times article in today's paper about Takata airbag recall mention new death (though until this week, the person was just listed as one of the 160 people who had an injury):

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/bu...toll.html?_r=0

probably won't be listed as a death, since she died of complications from quadriplegia. Notice is was a 2001 Honda Civic. Man, those are the main killer cars.

jimihaha

It seems like the older the car the bigger the risk.


I wonder if there's data on later Acura models (2010 to 2016) that were involved in an accident and the front airbag deployed. I tried searching for it online but I can't find any. I'm pretty sure there were newer RDX's that got wrecked, but there's still no info about it if the airbag inflators killed the passengers. I guess our RDX's are still "safe".

lbotez

here's more about the Mincey death:

Patricia Mincey dies in Florida, believed to be 11th airbag death | Protecting Your Pocket

and here, from an article in Jan. 2015, about her lawsuit: Honda and Takata sued by woman claiming airbag paralyzed her - LA Times

what's different about her case is that she had a recall done in 2009 -- (her car was a 2001 Honda Civic)

My 2002 Acura had two recalls, one in 2010 and one in 2015. I don't remember really thinking much about it. The recalls were done during routine maintenance at the Acura dealer. I had no idea at the time that the airbag inverters were killing people.

hovbuild

Ceb, my dealer wanted me to sign a release for damage while sitting, battery, tires and fading paint. I chose to leave it at home. When asked about the milage I included a bit more to drive it a bit and take it to the car wash. When they asked for the release I asked them if they ever have new cars on the lot sit around for 3-6 months.Deer in the headlights! I also informed my insurance co and asked them if both were covered because anything can happen with one even in your driveway. They said yes.

ceb

The release is useless. Once it is in their care they are required to take reasonable measures to return it to you in the same condition. Any halfway competent lawyer would have fun with that.

Comfy

Just wondering how much are the dealers offering for rentals (per day) for this issue. My dealer offers only $35/ day and it would cover only sedans or small SUVs at enterprise.

ceb

Seems like between $35 and $50 is the norm - but - I'd focus on the type of car and not the price. I wouldn't accept "go to the Enterprise lot and pick something for $35", I'd only settle for "I want a comparable car. It looks like I'll be driving it for several months so I want something close to what I paid for."

Fox137

Not sure if you guys follow or check up on the other forums here or not.. but as a heads up. My 2016 ILX which had the same recall received parts in on Tuesday this past week. Service manager said they weren't expecting them to come in this early at all. They received about 20 cars worth of parts in and are knocking out 3 - 4 vehicles per day (in between scheduled service appointments).

It sounds like you guys might not have to wait too long for the parts to come in. I had a rental through enterprise, and I was one of the first ones to receive the repair so they can get the rental off their books.

lbotez

Glad to hear you can drive your car again.

We've heard that the TL will be the last car to receive the new inflators. Hope it's not true. Looks like the ILX and the RDX Acuras get them first. Not sure if the 2nd generation TLs are being held up though (got our 2002 TL done last year). But my other Acura, a 4th gen, may be waiting awhile parked at the Acura dealer. Was told "see you in September". Though I imagine Honda/Acura would rather not pay for my rental car ($1050/mo) if they don't have to. Also, we've heard they are fixing their sales cars first since they don't have anything much to sell.

vbgregg

Hi,

Our 2013 RDX was supposedly first on the list at our local Acura dealer, since we were the first to call them (thanks to this list). They replaced the airbag inflator yesterday. The battery was low, so they replaced that as well, which may have partly been due to sitting for 2 months.

Gregg

lbotez

So any other problems with your RDX after sitting for a couple months besides getting a new battery? Did the mileage change at all (i.e., did they drive it around the block at all?). Or maybe you didn't write down the mileage when you dropped it off at the dealer. the tire? Are they in good shape?

snorf

The power of the media! When I was a kid my dad told me to be careful when I grew up. He said people work on the principle that "if you can scare people you can take there money". Al Gore and his earthworshipping wackos proved that to be true and it seems the media is scaring people to death over the airbags. For YEARS, I drove cars with no airbags and didn't wear seat belts (they weren't required by law). When I see all the hype over these airbags I can't believe I'm even alive. People are distracted by talking on their phones and texting - and killing MANY people by doing so - and we're focused on airbag inflators. Not that the deaths of these people isn't sad, but the emphasis on "deaths via automobile" is being significantly placed in the wrong area and people are living in fear. Instead of worrying about your airbag you should probably be more concerned about people talking or texting while driving or drinking/on drugs.

vbgregg

I kept our RDX at home in our garage (and the rental car outside in the driveway). Once a week, I drove the RDX around the block a few times (for about 5 minutes). I don't know if that's enough to make much of a difference with respect to the tires getting flat, but I suppose it couldn't hurt. The tires did not look obviously flat, though I did not look very closely. It did seem like I noticed more road noise when I drove the RDX after the fix. I don't know if that is due to the tires being worse, or if the RDX was always that noisy and the rental was quieter so the RDX seems noisy.

Gregg

hovbuild

So I should take another chance that someone texting or driving drunk rams into me that my airbag explodes and send shrapnel into my body. Nobody living in fear but I am here to protect my family and since my wife drives the RDX acura will pay for a safer alternative until the "small" risk is eliminated.

ceb

There is a difference between driving a car with no airbags, ABS or seatbelts (when the death rate per driven mile was much higher than it is today) and driving in a car where the airbag (if it deploys) sends metal shards into your face and brain.

snorf

IIRC, the media says about 1/3 of all cars on the road with air bags have faulty airbags. Perhaps it's time to take public transportation.

ceb

You don't want to do that. Too many problems there too.

There is a difference between a faulty airbag and a future faulty airbag. I'd put anything newer than 2010 in the "future" category.

I certainly agree that texting, drinking and smoking weed behind the wheel is more dangerous, but dead is still dead - regardless of wjat caused it.

CanTex

International question: Every year we drive our RDX to Canada from the DFW TX area in late May and return mid-October. I'm wondering if Canadian Acura dealers will be able to do the recall on an American RDX when parts do come in. I'll ask when we get there, for sure.

Comfy

That sounds unlikely unless you had it prearranged in writing that the warranty is valid by Canadian dealers. Let's hope things work out for you. You can check with the American dealer where you bought the car from. Did you formally and officially import the car to Canada?