tunit

Hello All,
As we all know that the Honda/Acura Alpine DVD Navi unit has problems with their system which causes inconviences and costly repairs. I would like all within the forum who have had this problem to post on the forum under this thread to get a general idea of who currently has an issue, who had theirs repaired, and who had theirs replaced. I will be consulting with a lawyer here in Denver, CO and for those who would like to join me in talking would be more than welcome to join. As this is a huge issue that demands either recall or replacement for free by the manufactures as a defective product.
Thanks Troy (tunit)

can anyone help to post this across all communities in this forum? as well as the if you are a member?
Thanks again and I will keep you all posted

robpp

iTrader: (2)

so its a classs action lawsuit for your 9 year old navigation unit not working properly?

this 9 YO nav unit "causes inconviences and costly repairs"?

maybe you could be more descriptive? like what kind of problems?

i would think your fight is with the maker of the unit.....or maybe even the software company.

I am rather new to the brand but I have never heard of any issues with any acura/honda nav units/

tunit

The same common problem has been known to happen in which the dvd unit located in the trunk causes disc scratching and laser lens scratching making the navigation unit stop working until fixed. Following action would be to contact Alpine themselves and they will fix it for a large amount of money, or Honda will replace it for even more. This happens in hundreds of units in TSX, TL, MDX, RDX, Accord, Civic all using the same Alpine DVD unit. Research the issue, people have had the issue for 5 plus years now and should of been taken care of a long time ago

tunit

Things get replaced and recalled by manufacturers many years down the road. For instance there was a recall on a power steering pump just earlier this year on my 9 year old car. SO when there is the same problem amongst almost every owner of the same vehicle having the same problem this can be resolved.

tunit

In federal civil procedure law, which has also been accepted by approximately 35 states (through adoption of state civil procedure rules similar to the federal rules), the class action must have certain definite characteristics (often referred to by the acronym CANT):

Commonality—there must be one or more legal or factual claims common to the entire class (in some cases, it must be shown that the common issues will predominate the proceedings over individual issues, such as the amount of damages due to a particular class member),
Adequacy—the representative parties must adequately protect the interests of the class,
Numerosity—the class must be so large as to make individual suits impractical (in other words, that the class action is a superior vehicle for resolution than numerous individual suits), and
Typicality—the claims or defenses must be typical of the plaintiffs or defendants.

tunit

The same common problem has been known to happen in which the dvd unit located in the trunk causes disc scratching and laser lens scratching making the navigation unit stop working until fixed. Following action would be to contact Alpine themselves and they will fix it for a large amount of money, or Honda will replace it for even more. This happens in hundreds of units in TSX, TL, MDX, RDX, Accord, Civic all using the same Alpine DVD unit. Research the issue, people have had the issue for 5 plus years now and should of been taken care of a long time ago

If your car doesnt have this issue that is great. However a lot of others have this issue so it needs to be spread so that this can get going with a law firm to resolve the issue.

PyroDave

Dunno if he wants to join but I remember one of the out of warranty guys had this problem, tsxkid? Or 09TSX? Forgot who

mmafighta

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tsx-2009-2014-143/what-happened-my-navigation-%5B-2009-tsx-845332/#post13505397

count me in, if my problems applies.

Most likely me, and I know TSXKid has/had the same problem as well. Still haven't got mine resolved. Alpine said they would fix it for $350, compared to dealership mark of $800. Been driving navigationless for a while now.

robpp

iTrader: (2)

so thats 2 members/

search didnt turn up MUCH else in this forum.......

doesnt sound like much of a class but what do I know LOL

good luck.

PyroDave

rob i understand your skepticism, but thats 2 members in a subsection with the oldest cars being less than 5 years old. think about the percent mmany 2G owners there are here vs the entire country

ceb

Sorry Pyro, but there is no way that this rises to the level of a class action.

Ken1997TL

This will not fly.

It's one thing if it's a steering column or faulty suspension piece, that is a SAFETY and usability issue.

Navigation is a bonus. A luxury feature. It is NOT essential for getting from A to B nor will its failure result in an accident.

Is it upsetting? Sure. Is it going to pan out in court? I highly doubt it.

PyroDave

i was simply saying if they wannna try, its worth a shot... if this extends to the 1st gen TSX, TL's, accords, and whatever else, it could have enough people... i was just tryna add positively =)

ceb

That's not really a requirement for a class action lawsuit, but...

Certifying the class is the hard part. What is the class? All Acura owners? All tech owners? All tech owners living in Wyoming?

In simplified terms, to be certified as a class, the group needs to have commonality, be large enough to make individual claims impractical and must have competent counsel.

It ain't gonna happen.

TSXKid2010

My GPS is broken, broke at 55k miles, quoted about $3000 to fix. Needless to say it's still broken. I would like some more information about this. It's the same problem, the head unit in the trunk is scratching my navi disk.

TSXKid2010

I know it seems unlikely, but think about it: As tech owners, we put out an extra, say $4000? to get this feature over the base model. And then it breaks once we get out of warranty and they charge us another $3000 to fix it? Doesn't that just seem not fair?

robpp

iTrader: (2)

i agree thats its not fair. especially when its all fitted to the dash and not built to a standard like the old days D-Din and such.

sign up for it. nothing to lose but a few minutes.


I also have heard you can file complaints like this directly with the FEDs on a website. NHTSA maybe ??? IDK

ceb

Y'all are confusing a safety related complaint (to NHTSA) with a lawsuit.

Anybody can file a suit. You can file in small claims court or some other court but a class action has several specific requirements.

If you guys want to file a class action, then the first step is for somebody to go see a class action lawyer and go from there.

Is it fair? Probably not, but you got a 50k mile warranty and it broke after the warranty period. I'd bet there are lots electronic shops on the internetthat'll repair the changer.

cudfoo

The only way a lawsuit would have any validity would be if Acura did not honor the warranty.

Once something is out of warranty you’re on your own. Don’t think what you think the company should do has anything to do with it unfortunately.

It is something I thought about when I bought the car. Having all this unneeded stuff can lead to problems down the road – hope not though.

Would think a current $200 Garmin would be much better than the unit that was in the first generation TSX. If Acura's not going to cover it wouldn't be worth putting to much into the repair.

TSXKid2010

I honestly don't know much, I just thought this was a class action lawsuit against Acura for putting a faulty system in our cars?

Honestly I wasn't seeking legal action for this, as I thought it was only me that it happened to, but it would make sense if there was legal action because there are more people.

I'm not sure about you guys, but I didn't buy my car expecting something to break down...I mean at 50k miles, i was at just about 1.5 years of ownership. I didn't expect my entry level luxury seden from a company with a reputation for reliability to break down as soon as I got out of warranty.

And I really don't know much about law. I mean, if there's a class action, great I'm all for it. But if there wasn't, oh well, I'll just sit around and bitch about my navi. There's an opportunity so I'll just take it and see where it gets me.

ceb

You're right. It certainly seems like there is a design issue.

Have you raised the issue with Acura Corporate by writing a certified letter to the address in your owner's manual?

turning japanese

Navigation DVD players are kind of old school. When did Acura go to HDD with the TSX? Was it just recently? Mine is HDD with a 60 GB drive (2012 model.)

Anyway, a cursory search shows that there were some issues with the Alpine manufactured unit and that Alpine even had a special address to send malfunctioning units which they would fix gratis. I'd take it up with the dealer and fight for goodwill. And/or write a letter to Acura with documentation of other owner complaints and also documentation about Alpine admitting to known issues.

You'll get a lot farther with that then finding a law firm that will find enough merit (i.e., profitability) to investigate for a CA suit. Plus it'll be a lot faster too. Unless you want to wait for several years and finally be offered a $100 gift certificate from Alpine as the settlement.

ESHBG

2011 is when they started that.

I agree with ceb and I think that it may be a better idea to get everyone together and work on Acura first before heading down the class action route. And even if you do happen to score a suit, they can sometimes backfire a little too (think about the brake settlement, which I was personally burned on).

I am SEVERELY disappointed with the electronics in these Acuras, I have had a lot of issues thus far, and they just don't seem like they are built to last. Granted, electronic gadgets in general these days don't seem to be built to last and the more complicated things get the more can go wrong, but...why are we all having so many issues with their electronics?!?

TSXKid2010

I wrote a letter, but i guess i did something wrong and it was returned to me when i had around ~85k miles. I figured they probably wouldn't do anything anyway. I made an appointment at my dealership with the rep from acura corporate but when i got there they said i didn't have one. I hate my dealership, and it's an hour away, so i kinda just gave up on that and decided to just deal with the shitty navi that just cuts off sometimes. I figured i never really used it, but the part that pisses me off is that the screen also freezes from time to time using it with music.

turning japanese

Um, be happy you don't own a late model German car. :wink:

DUBSPORTN

why not replace disc once its scratched?
why do you have to replace the entire unit.

ceb

What? You mean it isn't to have to pay $500 to swap your battery because it needs to be "registered" to the car or else it won't charge properly? A new fuel pump every $4k miles isn't normal either?

This generation has never learned how to complain properly to get results.

Maybe we should start a "complaints 101" section here?

ESHBG

A lot of what we base our opinions in life comes down to personal experiences of course, but I have NUMEROUS friends with late model German cars, and none of them have been through what I have been through with my Acura. I have spelled it out in numerous threads over the years, but here is what I have been through thus far off the top of my head:

• SIX blown speakers, and a few went within days of taking ownership. No, I do not push the stereo system to its limits and never have.
• Back up camera would not come on intermittently, and this was also within weeks of ownership.
• Navi freezes up occasionally at the "OK" screen.
• Numerous issues with the hands free unit within months of ownership.
• XM module had to be replaced.
• Rear brakes issue and thanks to the settlement, they had to be replaced at partially my expense.
• MAJOR XM reception issues, and now it appears as if I may have a bad antennae and/or feeder cable.

My '94 Accord, '08 TSX and numerous Hondas that were in my family were far, FAR more reliable than this car has been. Again, I DO NOT hate my car by any stretch of the imagination and it has countless positives and I do enjoy it overall, but the Acura of today does not seem to be the Acura/Honda of yesteryear, and I would no longer count bullet proof reliability as a sure thing with them.