marko

I am still waiting for my car. Talking to the sales manager I have been told that there are certain stages the car goes through until it ends up on a truck and gets shipped to dealership. Now, does anybody know what are these stages and how much time does it take (I have been told there are 3 of them) and how the whole process goes? Of course, I simply cannot wait any more and just trying to calculate the timing. Also, sales manager told me that once the car is released (whatever this means) it takes 7 to 10 days for the car to appear in a dealership. Thanks in advance for any info on this.

VTEC Animal

Well, I'd think that you'd be asking yourself these questions...... When did he say it was going to be in? How many people were on his list for cars that are listed before you and how many does he have coming in on a weekly basis. Eventually you'll get it, and maybe sooner than the guy in front of you depending on color. If you want a really hard to get color, then you may be waiting a while, it depends on how Acura has set his alotment and what he's ordered.....

BlackShadow

I don't know how their assembly process is but I had to wait for my TL. I wanted a black TL with Parchment interior and they didn't have it on the lot so they had to make my car from scratch. I think it took them about a month.

FTM-1

I remember back in 99 when I was going to get my car I went to hell & back. First thing I had been wan'ting a TL since I test drove the new redesigned 99. I test drove one in summer of 98 when they came in. At that time I was not ready to get it but that was going to be the car to get. Anyway a year had past & they had improved a few things for the 2000 model. I put down a $1000 deposit for a 2000 Firepepper Red/EbonyNavi at this dealership this was Sep of 99. The salesman then called me in October & told me that that dealership was going to stop selling Acura cars.
This dealership sells Benz & Rolls Royce cars so the did not need lowly Acura anymore I was pissed off. The salesman said he was going to work at another area Acura dealership. He asked me if I wanted him to take my paperwork to that dealership. I told him yes & I would bring another check with new dealerships name on it. I would call about once a week to check on the status of my car. I had been pre approved by my credit union for the loan. They said the approval was good for a certain time. The salesperson tried to get me to change my color choice or combo. I did not want to change this. Another salesman said you could be driving a Firepeper Red /Parchment Navi that was on the lot. I told him no parchmet int for me this was late Nov 99.They had Red/Ebony with no Nav & Red/Parch w Nav. I changed my color choice after 20min of looking at a Black/Ebony Nav on the lot. When I got home from the dealership I called & told him to get me that color combo. I thought I could get the one on the lot but it was sold.
I waited another 3 weeks & they called the night before Christmas Eve 99 & said the car was in. I told them I could not do anything untill after Christmas & that fell on the weekend. I went to look at my car on that Sunday but I could not get it till Monday. I then went to my credit union that Monday to get a check & they said my time period had expired for the aproved loan & I had to reapply. I was mad as hell the period was 4 days past the time.This took me about 3 hours to do again because it was still holiday time. Then I told dealer I would be out that eve to pick up car after rush hour. When I got home from redit union I was beat. The dealer then called & told me could I come out the next mourning. He told me alot of people were picking up cars & I would have to wait awhile. Tuesday mourning I was there first thing to get my Black/EbonyNav 2000 TL. They told me that the other color combo would not be in untill Feb of 2000. I changed my color combo to the only other one that I liked & went from 2month wait to 3 weeks. I went to hell & back for a TL.

jdl75

I don't know what the stages are that they are refering to, but here is a rough idea of how it works (from a MAP factory guy):

1. American Honda recieves an order from the dealer. Either to a customer's specs, or ones that the dealer chooses.

2. American Honda places the order w/ Honda of America Manufacturing (HAM). HAM schedules the build of the car, grouping them together by likeness (groups of red/ parchment for instance). The factory will try to put as many like cars into one run (red/ parchment/ Navi's). There's only a few factory choices on the TL, so it makes it easier (and cheaper too!).

3. HAM releases a build date to American Honda. American Honda can then inform the dealer. The dealers in my area generally know what month the car will arrive in (they get an allotment), but they don't know what date that month until American Honda gets info from HAM (which has been known to change!)

4. American Honda recieves the car from the factory, and does a basic prep (I worked for HAM, not American Honda. Hopefully, someone can fill in some detail from here on out). I know the cars are staged at American Honda, and loaded onto the trucks to the dealers. I can make a SWAG of how long they sit, which is 4-7 days. It could be as long as 2 weeks, I really don't have that info. I just know how long we had to get to a finished car if we found/ suspected a problem.

If you want to know more about the QA/ QC process, post a new thread. I can't really comment on production times, so don't ask. I'll just say it takes about a day or so to build the car, from the begining to the end of the line.

BLEXV6

All I can say to this is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I would have said F*** it and get a Lexus. BTW, there are no Acura dealers, in Canada that have other manufactures @ the same location.

Shoofin

Hey JDL75.........

After the car's complete, do they take it for a test drive to confirm that it's running/handling/braking properly? I've spoken to a friend who knew someone who worked in the factory on the newer mustangs, that after they build the car, the drive the snot out of it to make sure it's running properly thru water, mud, and other crap, then they send it thru a special booth that cleans the entire car like nothing happened.. Is this true to all makers?
Ed

jdl75

Well, they don't drive it through mud and crap but they do take it for a test drive. There is a 0.2 or so mile track behind the factory. They do modified acceleration runs (keeping w/ in break-in parameters), test the brakes, there is a suspension testing section (kind of looks like a northern highway in pothole season), and they test steering and some other features while they drive. They don't do anything to abuse the car. Some also get a bath at the end of the line, to test for leaks (this is a random, statistical sampling, not all get soaked).

All Honda/ Acura cars go through an extensive QC process as well. Each has a huge printout hung from the hood that has every QC inspection required along the line. Every associate is a QC inspector, and can stop the line for a problem (and do - you ought to see the fat guys in white jumpsuits run like hell when this happens!). At the end of the line, any car that is not perfect goes to the 1st QC line. There, each department keeps specialists to repair anything that was found along the line. Anything not repaired on QC1 goes to QC2, which moves a little slower. If it still has problems after QC2, it goes to, you got it, QC3. QC3 is a spot where they car is parked, and anything can be fixed (dents, paint, wrong / missing equipment, etc.). I can assure you that Ford and GM do not do this (I've been through Ford and GM plants - it is scary what they put off the end of the line!).

marko

Thanks to all of you for answers. Sales manager told me that from this stage where the car is now it has to go to some “H” or “Honda” stage and then to one more stage after which it is finally ready to be shipped. I am guessing that is the QC process, just would like to know how much time does it take for all that. Manager mentioned something like 7 to 10 days until the car arrives in their dealership. Anyway, if somebody can give me more details I will highly appreciate it. And, does anybody know, do they test every vehicle or they take every XX car as a statistical sample? Thanks once again.

jdl75

The QC process happens at the end of the line, and takes 2-??? minutes if it needs it at all. Yes, every car is track tested off the end of the line. The QC process is considered one of the steps in manufacturing process, and is done before the car leaves the factory for a test run (if something is discovered during the test run, the car is sent to the QC repair area). Once American Honda recieves the car, it goes through basic prep, and then staging, and then onto a truck. Figure a few days to prep and stage, a couple more en route, and you've got a car. It sounds like it is at the begining of that 7-10 day process you mentioned (getting prepped and staged). Getting antsy?

gohawks63

(I've been through Ford and GM plants - it is scary what they put off the end of the line!).

I agree. I responded on another post how as much as some people on this board have complained about TL quality, the domestics still can't compare to the Japanese (US built or otherwise).

Just read this article that appeared in Car & Driver in April.
Oldsmobile's problem: Barnum was wrong.

jdl75

In touring the GM truck and bus plant in Dayton, I observed the following:

A sidepanel had been mis-set on a vehicle (Jimmy/ Blazer/ Bravada), resulting in a mis-set between the roof and the rest of the body. Instead of fixing the problem (all you can really do at that point is disassemble the welds btwn floor and side comps and pray it is re-useable), they beat the roof into place with a ball-peen hammer, and back-filled with fiberglass filler. Some poor schmuck will be getting a truck that will never allign properly; leak, rattle and shake like a hooker on crack and generally be a $25,000 rolling pile of sh1t. No wonder they lose money hand over fist.

daverman

My old Statics professor used to work for GM. He has war stories of how they would fix door misalignments by jamming a wooden wedge between the door and the frame and slamming the door as hard as they could....

Egad!

jdl75

Ford does the same thing on the f-series trucks - except they put a rubber mallet in there and WHAMO!