I am wondering if all the quality issues on the new gen TSX is a sign of things to come, or strictly a first year of production unforseen issues?


Been reading about more quality issues with Toyota and Nissan...any insight?

Acura prides itself on superior quality and safety, I hope this is not a new trend.

 

I personally haven't experienced anything catastrophic as far as this car goes although the '1st year bugs' as experienced by others has varying degrees of severity. IMHO, things could be a helluva lot worse.

 

What quality issues are you talking about? Things seem perfectly normal to me, no worse than they were in the past.

 

yeup.. all i had is the speakers blown out and the recall for the trunk tray.. thats about it.. *knock on wood* soo nothing goes bad. hehehe

 

its all first year bugs. and you get warranty so they get fixed anyway without you paying for anything.

every car has its first year bugs wether its acura, chevy, bmw or mercedes.


ive experienced a few annoyances in my tsx but nothing more than annoyances. nonetheless im very happy with my car.

 

I still want to know why everyone thinks Japan's quality is superior and perfect.

 

Good point..here is my two cents.....I have owned 23 cars since mid sixties....the last 9 , Honda Toyota Acura Nissan..NO DOMESTIC (The final straw was an 89 Cougar V-8....I could rant for an hour about that abomination)


I think the quality of US cars in my lifetime was great pre 1974.

I think US car manufacturers got incredibly lazy and auto workers became very over paid and expecting more and more from auto manufacturers via the union demands, are in the plight they are today.

The drivelines were and are seldom the issues with US cars.

I think it became the peripheral items that went south (longevity 5+ years...power accessories..windows, locks, heater, air conditioner,knobs, switches, radio, etc)

I think the suppliers were not quality controlled strongly

Along came oil embargo of 73-74 and the nimble gas sipping Japanese cars.

Believe me, they initially had issues..I had a 74 Honda that had a bad tranny and speedometer within first 1000 miles.....but it was fixed and quality grew by leaps and bounds.
The US car manufacturers never upped the ante, churning out (with few gas sipping cars exceptions---- Vega Pinto Gremlin come to mind) mostly the same product with declining quality; the Japanese cars got better and better.

The US auto industry never thought the American public would abandon them. Build the same stuff, overcharge for it, and quality was not issue one; afterall the public will buy it and trade it in after a few years.
GM never needed umpteen divisions after 1974...poor management decisions put them where they are today.

I think the US cars have made great quality strides in the last 10 years, forced upon them by the in-roads of Foreign Cars where in most cases, QUALITY has been job one. Whether they survive is up to the politicians.


Now comes the electric car......time will tell.

 

I don't know why everyone thinks this car has a problems, I got my car in October and have 8k miles on it and no issues what so ever.

I think a few people came on the forums and had some small issue's and everyone now thinks the 5 to 50 people that had this issue was in the thousands. People with a new cars with an issue come to complain (not a crime, I would too) on these web sites. Then a lot of people with perfect cars never even come to these sites, except for a few of us enthusiasts.

If you think about it before the Internet no one would have known about the 5 to 50 cars that did have an issue. Maybe the net is to much information for some?

 

Have you owned a few different cars from around the world? you really need to understand.

Japanese quality is superior, not perfect and getting expensive.

German engineering is superior but expensive

Italian design is superior but very expensive.

USA had all of these many many years ago, now they can be the value guys if they can get it together. Funny that is the same place Japan started back in the day with our technology's!

I would love the USA to knock every car maker on there ass but they have been promising that for over 25 years now and never do. GREED does not always work.

 

Because it has been for years...

...although that doesn't mean its a given. If you look at many 'Japanese' products nowdays, they're made in China just like everything else.

Its funny...most of the Japanese people I know, many of whom work for Honda no less, don't drive Hondas. They drive Toyota and Nissans. So do some people I know in Japan.

 

why is that? is honda considered like a boring buick in japan?

 

I don't really know. I asked a japanese friend why they're not the most popular in japan...he said they're number 3 behind toyota and nissan generally. He didn't think Honda cars were as good as some of the other manufacturers cars. When I asked why he said he didn't really know....just an impression. Generally he said Honda is mostly known for their small kei cars, not necessarily the others.

In America Honda generally stands out among the competition...maybe the competition is much tougher in Japan?

 

Honda is a more American focused company verses Nissan and Toyota. After all, the company has been in the US for over 50 years now and it doesn't just make cars.

Think of the vehicles that Japan never got that we did from Honda.

3rd gen TL
CL
Bigger Accords with V6's
Bigger Odysseys
Pilot
etc etc

As for quality.. I've been through about a dozen Honda products and coincidentally my RL, TL and Prelude are all (drumroll) made in Japan

No rattles, no broken switches, no blown transmissions

 

Japanese quality is hardly perfect and never was unless someone can show me a Japanese manufacturer that had 0 problems per 100 cars. They have tended to have less problems per 100, but they still have problems. Things have changed in the present though. The most reliable mid-sized car in America is not the Nissan Altima, not the Toyota Camry, and not the Honda Accord. Nope, it's the Ford Fusion. This is according to Consumer Reports. As a company, Ford has passed Nissan in overall quality and is approaching Honda & Toyota. European manufacturers have the worst quality ratings. They've trailed the Americans for some time. Mercedes-Benz and VW are among the worst. My TSX is my first non-American car. I've generally a Ford guy. After my TSX lease is up, I'm probably going back. Somewhere, there's a Taurus SHO with my name on it.

 

Like the looks of the Fusion, the automatic tranny is a six speed made in Japan.......car even has that Foreign look, makes me think they hired Japanese designers...time will tell the tale as far as LONG term reliability. A neighbor down the road from me has had his driveshaft replaced on his AWD fusion, noise issues, took a month to get replacement shaft.
Consumer reports has been wrong on a few things...DO NOT take them as gospel....hope FORD makes it, Mustangs are like cockroaches...they are everywhere, Mexican assembly with French Automatic trannies is a recipe for disaster IMHO

 

Even if Ford's cars were more reliable, they're still not to my liking. It doesn't have the same feel that I like about Japanese cars. Reliability isn't the only factor in choosing a car. Ford just doesn't have the design or feel that I personally like, especially in the details. They're getting much better tho, and they're borrowing a lot of details from overseas. That can only help them in the long run. When the interior quality improves a bit more, I might be looking that way. For now tho, the asian brands still have what I'm looking for, even if they're not quite like they used to be.

I think someone else said it...the US asian brands are building a number of cars targeted specifically at US buyers. That includes the quality expectations of US consumers. Japanese cars that are made for Japan aren't built to the same standards as ones that come to the US. For example, I just found out that something as mundane as the radiator hose...on our engine it just kinda floats there in mid air as it goes to the radiator. When the engine is idling the hose vibrates. Who cares, right? Well, on the japanese car its routed under a lip nearby, so you either can't see it or its secured there...so it doesn't vibrate. The japs generally care about stuff like that. Americans, well, you know...

The US Altima isn't sold in Japan. I believe its only sold in the US, Canada, and the middle east. It was designed in Kaliforneeea and built in Tennessee. The camrys and accords sold in japan are generally only made there. They usually don't buy US made stuff. LOL

 

IMO..This seemed to have started back in the 80's when other manufactures where having tough times with reliability and fuel economy etc. Everyone then seemed to think that the Japanese cars where perfect but i still remember our service department full everyday with problems..(family use to own a Toyota dealership).

This perception is extremely important to hold onto and I remember Mitsubishi early this decade getting slammed for hiding recalls that should of been issued partly for this reason (and also costs).

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...leID=1746&vf=1

While Honda, Toyota etc have never been caught yet doing the same thing at this level I do remember posting something here a few years ago after this Mitsubishi incident where the Japanese gov't came down hard on Toyota and Honda etc for not doing more about problems that they had and that they should be issuing more recalls....Its sometimes easy to show the public you have a great product when you dont release all the issues it may have....This is why I am really curious and watching how Honda handles this pinging problem in the 2G TSX.

Today I still notice with the exception of maybe Lexus that most of the Japanese model lines still suffer from quality of materials etc as they still seem to suffer lots from rattles, squeaks, pre-mature wear etc, while reliability still seems to be well above average.

I am not a fan of Consumer Reports but for those who are, its interesting to see today how they really slammed the Honda Insight and it almost came in last place out of 22 vehicles. I realise reliability wasnt the sole factor in this test but it did have a segment in the test and maybe this has some merit to the OP's comment on Honda's Quality. Personally this is a great time for the Chevy Volt to come out as I think it would be a great seller compared to the insight and prius as it seems to be so much better in so many areas.....hopefully GM wont miss out on this one.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/30/i...nks-it-21-out/

Overall the Japanese Auto industry has contributed alot to the Automotive world in the last few decades (especially Toyota with its Plant production methods) along with many other manufactures throughout the world.

The problem is though when people look at different stats form CR, JD power etc, they think that a car that is 22nd on the list compared to a car thats 3rd is going to fall apart at the first pot hole they hit and thats obviously just false. On average the Japanese car may be slightly better than most others but everyone has their own experiences. I purchased a 2006 Jetta 2.0T over a 2006 TSX and when I look here at issues people are having with their TSX my Jetta seems awesome and actually it has been and thats why we are buying it out at the end of our lease for a second car....based on reliability and the incredible dealership service. If i had listened to all the CR stats etc back in 2006 I may have not had this great car........Sorry for the rant.....

 

This is my first Honda, and I too am really curious to see how Honda handles this. I've generally bought every other japanese manufacturer and I've been pretty happy with them. For various reasons I've never really liked Honda, until the TSX came out. This car could be make or break for me when it comes to my opinion of Honda. So far I haven't had the greatest of experiences, but I'm doing my best to keep an open mind....

 

The only thing that is bugging me now is the occasional pinging / rattling noise between 2000 to 2500 rpm documented elsewhere on this forum. A buzzing noise that I used to hear near my left ear has since disappeared by itself. Other than that no problems so far.

Overall I have been very impressed by the quality of the car to date. It is the first Honda product we have owned; our previous 2 cars were Toyotas. The first (a 1998 Corolla made in Ontario) only had 1 problem -- the radio refused to turn off once, but after taking the unit out of the dash and re-installing it, the problem vanished. The second Toyota (a 2004 Camry V6 made in Kentucky) had less impressive exterior build quality, and a couple of dealer visits were required to fix a sunroof problem, but other than that it was, like the Corolla, extremely reliable. I am hoping our new TSX is the same.

 

quality is top notch. only issue for me is a bad rattle when you play a song with alot of base.

 

I have had my TSX for three months and 3k miles, no issues here, I am very happy with the quality. I have no regrets on getting my TSX.

 

I dont think that these other cars have better quality.. i just think once you go "higher end" you get more anal people who bring their cars in for anything.. (my high beams arent bright enough).

 

IMHO, that's probably why Acura stopped producing the RSX.

 

There used to be a GM plant near me (it's been demolished and replaced by a shopping area). Back in its hey day, the workers were known to go across the street for lunch time. At the end of their lunch time, you could see that they were drunk and staggered back to their jobs at the plant.

For american cars, using cheap parts was part of the norm. If it breaks, you can get the parts for cheap and install it yourself. Now-a-days, people don't want to be bothered having to roll up their sleeves. They expect their vehicles to be reliable. Thus, japanese cars are more enticing since they build their cars to last.

 

Good point.

 

That is a good point and one I've tried to make too. The same problem in a 15K Hyundai and a 30k Acura will be reported (perceived) differently because people are ... well people.

 

The thing is, US automakers are catching up to the Japanese. GM Ford are getting on the "you tell us what you want, and we'll build it" mentality, and it shows. Quality of the US auto makers isn't what is used to be, which was basically cheap crap made by UAW's. (Sure there are cheap crap cars still, like the Chev Cobalt) The 80's and 90's, and early 2000 US cars were crap, but that is starting to change.

I guess my point is, if one were to say that "I only buy Japanese now since American cars are unreliable." then that person is sadly biased. That statement would've been true couple of years ago, however.

 

You know, I would agree to an extent that the US product is getting better, but every year and every decade all I remember hearing is that;

"We're closing the gap, getting better."

Perceptions rule, and just as it took almost 30 years to 'close the gap', shedding the reputation is going to take a long time too.

Truth is, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

There is no longer such a thing as 'Foreign' or 'Domestic'. Vehicles are such a homologation of parts made from Hell to breakfast that buying domestic in order to wrap one's self in the flag is foolhardy.

As far as domestic product goes, I have owned and may well in the future own another Ford product.