crashed my 2 month old RL this morning trying to take a turn with VSA off.... Please don't try it at home. I am glad I didn't hit anyone except the guard rail on the side. Pics to come.

 

Sorry to hear about that!

 

pics are here http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~nelson/RL/Crash/

 

That looks really bad. Hope you didn't get hurt. Maybe your pride huh.

Make sure that they only use genuine Acura parts on repair. The front fenders and hood are made of aluminum. Let us know what the repair estimate comes to.

Don't turn off the VSA!

 

how exactly can you make sure that they use genuine Acura parts?

 

Damn that sucks. Can you describe what happened when you had the vsa off ? understeer ?

 

Basically the road was wet. I was at a red light waiting for it to turn green so I could take a left turn. For some reason I forgot that I had my VSA off (don't ask me why), then the light turned green and as I almost completed the left turn I decided to accelerate a little bit (which I almost normally do). I wasn't even flooring it. Then the car was fish tailing (oversteer) to the opposing traffic. I then tried to correct the oversteer but ended up over correcting it so the car took a sharp right directly into the guarrd rail on the right side of my own lane....

 

Why would you ever drive with VSA off in wet conditions?

Nonetheless, sorry to hear about it.

 

The shop should order them from Acura. Your insurance should approve this without any argument. The shop should have an invoice from Acura for you to see upon request. Ask them for it. The parts should have a part number printed or stuck to them. This should be visable before they paint the parts.

 

what would be a good example of a part that would not be genuine? I would think that almost all would come from Acura in order to fit correctly on to the car, no?

 

Hoods and fenders mostly. Sometimes the plastic grill components, bumpers, and trim. Come to think of it, 05 and 06 RLs are pretty new and there are not a lot of them out there. There may not be much, if any, a market in replica body parts for this model. Your body shop will probably have to go to acura for parts. It won't hurt to ask the shop manager.

 

Sorry to hear that.

Shouldn't the SH-AWD prevents oversteer even without VSA?

 

Prevent? No. Reduce the possibility, sure. Obviously in this case, it wasn't enough. VSA is your friend. Personally, I never turn it off. I'm probably just too agressive to not have it on.

BTW -- to the OP. Sorry to hear of your bad luck. I'd be too.

 

does anyone think that it's possible to request the shop not to install the air intake resonator but instead install a custom fit a cold air intake for me? Since everything (hood, fender, bumper, etc) will be replaced anyways...

 

Well with all that stuff off, it will def be easier for them to fabricate something, but if it's a bodyshop you are asking my guess is they will say no. No harm in asking though to see if it can be done.

 

The repair for the damage is estimated to be around $6,700. At least that's what they told me how much was sent to the insurance... The car would be in the shop for about 2 and a half weeks for repair. I think they just got the parts in. Hopefully they can repair the damage to perfection, as I am a pretty picky person myself.

 

Not preaching to anyone, but this may a good time to remind people that VSA isn't foolproof (by a long shot). I myself was painfully aware of that a few years ago as my almost new BMW 540i was hydroplaning sideways at 70mph on a highway in Colorado, heading for a long painful graunch down a guardrail.

VSA (and its clones) will HELP in many situations, but frankly it works best on dry roads, where the tires can get a bite. In the wet or on ice, it won't help a lot if the car applies brakes to one wheel or makes some other correction, since tire slippage can cancel out the VSA's actions. Ditto for SH-AWD. When the tires lose contact with the road, all bets are off and you are at the mercy of the forces of physics.

It's kinda like those guys who get a 4WD and think they're invincible in the snow. You always see a lot of 4WD's piled up on the side of the road when the flakes fall, since they don't stop any better than 2WD ... and they slide just as well.
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So, I recently found out that they are using an aftermarket radiator for my RL. I called and they said that they have always used this brand of radiator for most of the cars they repair which are Mercedes and BMWs. They also said that there have been no problems whatsoever. Should I still demand the OEM radiator assembly? Should I be concerned? My car is scheduled to be finished by the end of this week so please let me know your opinions. Thanks!

 

I think this is where the shop is getting their radiators from:

http://www.performanceradiator.com

 

The car is only 2 months old. Insurance requires them to use new OEM parts till the car is usually 1 year old. Tell them you demand them and call your insurance company.

 

the copy of the estimate sent by my insurance informed me that the radiator was aftermarket. It is therefore that I don't think the insurance does require shops to put OEM stuff. Right now I just wanted to know if the aftermarket would be a better one. Seems like the OEM is made by Koyo.

 

I compeletly agree, I'd want my new RL just like new. If you have cooling problems later, your dealer won't cover the radiator on warrenty if it's not OEM.

 

Who's your insurance company? The insurance company may recommend aftermarket but as a consumer you probably have the right to demand OEM. I know because I work for an insurance company.

State Farm lost a staggering lawsuit years ago because they wouldn't honor requests for OEM.

 

So sorry to hear about your accident.

On another note, suppose the aftermarket radiator is not compatible with Honda antifreeze. You go in for coolant change and you have problems down the road that won't be covered by warranty due to non-OEM radiator.

 

my insurance IS State Farm....

 

the bodyshop said that if there will be a cooling problem then I take my car to them, not the Acura dealer...

 

Demand OEM parts. Period. Talk to your adjuster. THe car is new and should be completely covered under the NEW CAR warranty. There's no reason you should have to go somewhere else for a colling problem.

 

exactly. You have the right to demand OEM parts on a 2 month old car. I have State Farm and I did on my Pathfinder that was one month old when I got into a accident that costed 15k of damage on it.

And per the shop which is owned by my friend. State Farm requires them to use OEM parts on the car if its under a certain age.

 

I agree with everyone else. Demand (nicely) an OEM radiator. I went through this with another car in the remote past...I was direct and indicated I would not accept my car back without OEM parts...inspected fully the estimate and had the car independently inspected after it was fixed.

Why would a body shop recommend taking your car with a cooling problem to them? (Oh wait, that's a dumb question. )

 

Just talked to my claim rep and they have agreed to have the OEM radiator installed on my car. They have already left a message to the bodyshop to order it. However the person that I talked to also said that "there is no such thing as OEM radiator, Acura just put a stamp on it when the car was built, however we will try get you one." What a stupid comment.

Oh well, they authorized it already, so it's all good!

 

I would ask for a list of all parts ordered and ask that any and all be OEM....all of them.

As an example of things...there is an article on the Spoon endurance RL car on the net. They kept the OEM Honda radiator as it was deemed superb and no improvement was needed for endurance racing. They changed a lot of other things....so I suspect Honda makes a very good radiator.

Good luck.

JB