Acctcanc13

Hey guys, I did a search and couldn't find anything else on this. Please don't flame me if this has been listed before... It’s my 1st post!

First off, GREAT WEB SITE! Perfect way to inform anyone with an Acura TL about whatever they need to know. My hat is off to all those involved for educating everyone else. Isn't the Internet GREAT?!?

OK to the good stuff....

I just recently purchased (June 30th 2004) a new 2004 TL, and since I drove it off the lot, the SRS light has been going on and off.

The dealership has been scratching their head on this one and they have told me that a few TL's also have my problem.

Apparently the only fix for this is to replace two main wiring harnesses and also the instruments gauge cluster.

I still haven't seen anything officially from Acura, but the dealership has expressed to me that there is indeed a bulletin on this.

Has anyone else had this problem?

By the way, this process for the dealership to fix the SRS light issue was a complete NIGHTMARE. IT took over 7 visits to the dealerships and numerous problems that I had to deal with from the Dealership (i.e.: breaking something else on the car while trying to fix the SRS issue, scratching the paint, breaking interior parts, etc...) My initial 'faith' that the dealership is there to take care of me, pretty much does not exist anymore. I just got the car back this Friday, and that "new car" feeling is completely gone, because I have seen how they REALLY take care of the customer.

Does anyone else feel "PARONOID" when they pick of their car from the dealership, in fear that something has been damaged to the car?


This is good feedback (WARNING CONTAINS DRAMA and is VERY DETAILED), here is the RUN down of my DEALERSHIP experience, with the SRS light deal...

Day of purchase: June 30th 2004
Driving off the lot, the SRS light comes on. That night I read the book, and its states in BOLD RED contact dealership, this is not normal.

1st visit: July 2nd 2004
Dropped car off - (Friday) all day - to have SRS light fixed, whatever - picked up car that night, phone call the next day (Saturday) from the dealership letting me know that they didn't have a chance to work on my car? What’s the point of making an appointment to get your car worked on if they (complete waste of my time) don't do anything to it? Discussion with Service rep for 2nd visit to this SRS deal looked at. Right off the bat the Service guy was a complete idiot, he apologized that they dropped the ball and wanted to make sure I was taken care of. He asked me when I could bring my car back in? I told him 1st thing Monday morning. His answer to me was that’s not going to work for me? Excuse me? Who is the customer here? In my eyes this was strike #2 for the dealership, and I just got the feeling that this was only going to get worse. My answer to the question was, OK, When is a good time for you? Thursday was the best time for the Service rep because his schedule was Tuesday - Saturday and he wanted to make sure that since he dropped the ball, that I was taken care of, no questions asked. I gave him the chance, no worries I thought.
2nd visit: July 7th 2004 - July 8th 2004
After a test drive and 15 miles later, the dealership is unable to duplicate the SRS light (coming on) issue. At this visit, I point out a few issues I am having with the TL.
Scratch on the Navi Screen, leather steering wheel wrap is defective on one side, cosmetic issue.
NOTE: I found out about a month later, that if the SRS light comes on, it stores a code so when a diag. of the system is completed, even if the light doesn't come on again, codes are stored giving you reasons why the lights came on. Why the dealership didn't tell me this on the 2nd visit still remains a mystery, perhaps they didn't have time to look at the issue again, but had time to take it for a joy ride.
3rd visit: August 2nd 2004 – August 9th 2004
This visit would have been a lot sooner, but it all depended on when the new navi screen and steering wheel were going to be order and delivered. I was told, no more than 10 days, maximum. As you can see, it has almost been a month. I did contact the dealership on three different occasions to ask them for a status as to when these parts were coming in, because the SRS light was still coming on and I wanted it to be fixed ASAP. The second time I contacted the dealership, it had been over 2 weeks, and I explained to the Service rep, that I might have been a little picky in pointing out the steering wheel defect and the scratch on the navi screen, and that I could probably live with both of these issues. I then explained to him that after some serious thought, I really didn’t want to deal with any issues after the fact of these parts being replaced. I told him that I am aware interior parts are very tricky at times, especially on newer cars that technicians are not experienced with, and that I should just forget about these items being replaced. He insisted that everything would be fine, and that if it were his car he would also want these items taken care of. I was assured on several occasions that my car would be taken care of with the utmost care and that no other issues would occur during my service visit. The service rep told me that it should be “OK” to wait until the parts come in, so that they can take care of ALL of these issues during one visit. During this time, I was enjoying the car, unless the SRS light came on, then I became concerned.
During this visit, on August 6th, the Service Department’s manager contacted me. He attempted to ensure me that the car was being taken care of, but he wanted me to be aware the they had to contact Acura (in California) because the codes that the diag readings were sending out didn’t make sense. I was told that only ONE Acura in the USA had this exact same issue. They believe it to be condensation on the SRS sensor. I was told that a dilate grease was placed on the SRS sensor so that if it was a condensation issue, this would resolve it. The car must now be driven on three separate occasions, cold – test drive – cool down, etc x3… After this process was completed and if the SRS light did not come on again, the issue would have been resolved. After the third test drive the light came on again, and I was contacted and explained what was going on. Acura in California had to be contacted again, because the dealership had NO CLUE as to what was going on. I had planned to go out of town on August 7th, and I told the dealership to please leave me a voice message so that when I got back into town, I would know what the status of my car was. August 8th, I got back into town; only to find out I had no messages. Luckily I have a friend that works in sales at the dealership, and he had to apologize to me that no one contacted me, and that I would not believe what they did to fix the issue. The car battery was replaced. On August 9th, the day I picked up my car, I was explained that the reason it was the battery was because there several process going on in the vehicle and that the battery must control all of them. If the battery becomes weak at all, then it is possible for some of these processes (SRS light) to not work correctly. They could not explain why the tests on the battery indicated that there was nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately for me, this is when the fun started.
I was anxious to get my car back, and excited that the issue was FINALLY resolved. What you will read next will more than likely make you sick, if you own a BRAND NEW CAR. From day one I have treated this car like a newborn baby, and my buddy that works in sales knows this. I owned a Honda for 15 years before making the decisions on the 2004 Acura TL.
On August 9th, the car was completely dirty when they attempted to delivery it to me. NO problem, Ok, its dirty, they apologized and asked me if I wanted it cleaned? Yes, please do, as it was clean when I brought it here, and I would like it clean when I drive it away. Again, my vision was to get it home to clean it myself. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that they took care of my car, it’s a new car, they are a dealership, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I was wrong in ever believing this. While in traffic on my way home from the dealership, I was looking over the Service ticket report. They had to put over 70 miles on my car, I guess to test drive it/replace the battery? To me this is a bit excessive, but no worries. This is nothing compared to what you are about to read. Again for those of you in a brand new Acura TL, you have been warned.
While driving home I noticed that on the drivers side, above the door, next to the windshield, on the pillar that has the same material of the headliner, GREASE marks from someone’s hand. I have never used this part of the car to get myself into or out of, so it must have been someone that worked on the car. I was pissed, and with good reason. I could not wait to get home so that I could check out the rest of the car. Here is what else I found. The steering wheel emblem, inside, had visible scratches that were not there before. The aluminum trim around the navi screen, radio, center console were visibly loose, along with other interior parts around the center console, loose or broken.. The driver’s side front bumper was either struck by something or hit something, because both paint and plastic from the bumper were damaged. Around the gas lid, there was a visible nick, which was already RUSTING. The driver’s side front rim had two visible nicks in it. Drivers side rear quarter panel, about the gas lid, had a dent in it. Needless to say, I needed to let the dealership know what I found and how disgusted I was with my findings. I sent the manager of the dealership and email on the evening of August 9th with the details you just read. I received a phone call the next day, August 10th, 2004, from the manger, he was embarrassed and told me that he could ensure me that this was an isolated incident and that he wanted to send someone out right away to pick up my car.
He attempted to assure me, on the phone, that my car was going to be taken care of and again this had to be an isolated incident.
4th visit: August 10th – 11th 2004
A technician from the dealership came to my work and picked up my car. I was told that the car would be ready for me to pick up on Wednesday. On August 11th, the manager from the dealership contacted me to let me know my car was ready, and he wanted to personally delivery my car to me. I told him that I wanted to drive to the dealership to pick up the car. . The steering wheel was replaced, again, and I guess they had another new one, on site, without having to order a new one? I was rather shocked by this. He wanted to prove to me it was new, because there was plastic all around the steering wheel. He also ensured to me that the car was only driven to fix the problems I had emailed him about. He was very embarrassed and wanted me to be happy. At this point I told him, that the NEW CAR feel to me was GONE. He told me he totally understood and that he wanted to get me back to feeling the way I did the day I bought the car. After looking at the car, I started to feel happy. The words from the manager of the dealership were quite soothing, and I know he could tell I was pissed. It came to the time for me to drive the car off and go home. While driving the car, the SRS light came on. I drove back to the dealership and left the car running, it had not been 10 minutes since I left. While waiting for my car, I was told that more than likely because the steering wheel was replaced, for a second time, that this is why the SRS light came on again. Ok, sounds normal, I took this answer and left the dealership. We all agreed at this time that we all HOPED that the SRS light would not come on again.
5th visit: August 13th 2004
While driving to get some lunch, the SRS light came on again. I drove directly to the dealership on my lunch break. Left the car running, and waited until someone from the dealership could help me with my car. I was told that the code indicated a bad sensor in the passenger seat. I was told that a new part would be FedEx and Acura, and they I was going to get a new sensor inside the seat, newer than what was actually installed in the seat at the time the car was being built, updated that it looked like this part. They hinted around that this part had been updated and it might have been the problem the entire time. I drove the car back to work, and thought out my mind I was thinking that they have NO CLUE what was going on. I was asked if I had placed my cell phone on the passenger seat while I was driving, or if I had a laptop in the car? Apparently they had received complaints from Acura that these issues were causing the SRS light to come on.
6th visit: August 20th 2004
dropped off car before lunch, and picked up car before 8pm.
No other issues noted.
7th visit: August 27th 2004 – September 17th 2004
SRS light came on, I notified the dealership and I was told to bring my car in on August 30th so that the District Service Manger could take a look at my car. This time, I mentioned LEMON LAW, because what I have gone through so far was absolutely ridiculous. As usual, I was given a dealer loaner car, but I was called on Thursday and that because of the Hurricane predictions, that the dealership wanted all of the loaner cars back on the lot. How was I going to drive? I needed transportation? I was furnished with a rent a car, that I had to sign off on, but I was told that everything would be taken care of. Fine, ok, just fix my damn car already. I was getting ready for another out of town trip when I received two voice mails from the District Service Manger who stated the following. August 2nd 2004 - In our findings we have determined that during diagnosis the SRS unit, floor and dash complete wiring harnesses and gauge cluster need to be replaced. This should only take a few days. I get these messages while at the airport on my way out of town for the weekend. I am thinking, PLEASE just give me a new car! Why do I have to DEAL with this! I get back into town on September 7th 2004, and the dealership is closed because of the hurricane and Labor Day. I call for a status on Tuesday and ask if I can turn in the rent a car, and I was told that the parts are being ordered, my car is ok and to go ahead and keep the rent a car, its ok. NO worries.
On Thursday September 9th 2004, I receive a voice message from the dealership that my parts are in and my car should be finished that day. I get a call later that day, that my car is still being worked on, and I might get it on the 10th. On September 10th, 2004, I get the same two messages. I get a few more messages concerning the car, to ensure me that they are working on it. On September 14th 2004, I get a call letting me know my car is ready for pick up and that they are absolutely positive that they have fixed the issue and that I will never had a problem with the SRS light again.
I am a pretty busy person, and my time is very valuable. I called the dealership back to let them know I would be by to pick up the car at around 7pm, because traffic is very bad from where I work to the dealership, and not to mention it was raining. So, I go to pick up the car, in the rain, its dark outside, the manager of the service department is waiting for me, he usually leaves at 6pm, but he wanted me to see that the car was ready and make sure I was happy with it. While talking to me at the service counter about what they had to do to my car, he explained in some detail what had to happen. He wanted to walk me through the entire car before I left to make sure I was happy. He mentioned that they waxed the car for me. At this point, I knew, in the back of my mind, that SOMETHING was wrong with the car, my gut told me this. He continued to go on and on about how they looked over the entire car, with four different people, in and out and he also mentioned the details again of what had to be done to replaced the parts in question. I was shocked when I found out that all of my seats, including the back seats, were taken out of the car. I was a little bit sick to my stomach. As we all probably understand, once you take about something, especially interior parts, that there is a high possibility that these parts will often break or not got back into place the same as before. He opened up the passenger door and asked me to look inside. The very first thing he points out is that my floor mat was dirty, no worries, that can be cleaned. What went through my mind at the time was, if they went over my car, then why wasn’t this clean, but it was really no big deal, I didn’t say a word. I stick my head inside the car and looked on the passenger side pillar, on the left hand side, again the pillar attached to the headliner (cloth material) and noticed a BIG GREASE HAND PRINT. I pointed to it and said, “excuse me, but hey you missed something” He was shocked and ran to get some cleaning products. I was a little pissed, but if this was all I found then I was ok with it. As soon as I opened up the passenger side back door, and looked down, I felt like I was going to through up. On the Aluminum threshold plate, I noticed that it was badly scratched, dented and obviously ruined. Next to the plate on the inside of the door jam I noticed a five-inch long scratch in the paint with a dent in the middle of the scratch. I pointed to it and asked him how much of the car do I have to look at before I find something else? I walked away from the car and told him that I was done with the car, finished, and they can keep it. He told me that these things happen, and unfortunately it was my car that this happened to. . I told him that this has happened almost every time I have been to this dealership. He also mentioned to me that he had been doing this for some time, and that there is always one customer that you cannot satisfy and that at this point in time that customer was ME. At that very moment, the manger of the dealership happened to be leaving. He was shocked and apologies to me and understood my frustration. He seemed to be the only one that could actually understand me; he mentioned to me, that I had the option to contact the BBB if I wanted too, but that he really didn’t want to tell me this.

Finally on September 17th, 2004, the service manager delivered the car to me at my work. I was very nervous, because as you can probably imagine, the worst has happened, but what’s not stopping them from screwing something else up. We talked about the car, and his service and he just admitted that they had a chance the first time and second time and just screwed up. He left in the loaner car. I am still a little stressed over this entire deal. I don’t even want the car any more. Anyone want to buy a 2004 Acura Tl with less than 2100 miles on it?



Just curious as to what everyone thinks about this situation. My frustration
levels have never been higher. ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE email me. I really want out of this car, because I have no confidence in the dealership, what they did, and now to deal with the condition of my NEW CAR.


Has anyone had any problems like this on a 04 TL?

Since this experience I have contacted Acura (Honda of America) and explained to them this entire situation. They asked me if I would be interested in an accessory item for my car? I told them pretty much the only thing that would make me happy would be a new car, in which they told me that is impossible. I told them that I was going to pursue with filling for the LEMON LAW and in turn I was told that I do not qualify, and GOOD LUCK. Makes you want to buy a new car from Acura, doesn’t it?

njzprettyboy

VERY impressive/long first post

gochan

doen'st sound like the lemon law. jsut sounds like they need to go back and do some retraining. danm, i needed a cigraette in between all that reading. i would definitely complain to the bbb and ask for as much free stuff as possible. it doesn't sound like they f ed up on purpose. just sounds like they are a bunch of idiots

Repecat

My sympathies.

JLim

I agree with gochan. Maybe you need to look for another Acura dealer and go there for service. All the problems you encountered, minus the SRS, are scratches and damages made by the dealer.

Are the grease stains and scratches still there? If not, then why do you still want to get rid of this TL? Sounds like all the problems have been fixed.

Good luck with your car.

KJSmitty

Been there, done that....... (X2) Dealer service departments are ignorant, incompetent, and could care less about you or your car.

First off, Acura has no say in what does or doesn't qualify for the lemon law, your State makes that call. Second, the BBB is incestuous with all automotive manufacturers (and visa versa) so don't even consider going that route - total waist of your time. If you ever wonder why the BBB is thrown at you in the manual and by the manufacturer, its because they no 9 times out of 10 they will prevail.

So, if you get the old SRS light again, file a claim - it's easily safety related.

And, given the fact that your dealership definitely "sucks", make sure that your SRS light at least illuminates when it should, IE test during initial key on etc. If not, they could have just removed the bulb........


"He told me that these things happen, and unfortunately it was my car that this happened to. . I told him that this has happened almost every time I have been to this dealership. He also mentioned to me that he had been doing this for some time, and that there is always one customer that you cannot satisfy and that at this point in time that customer was ME."

This guy (TOOL) should be fired. For this to come out of a service reps mouth is completely lame, especially after all the damages inflicted on your vehicle. At the minimum, a few cuss words about his worthless technicians and then a personal apology to you should have taken place..... Followed by a suggestion for you to take it home and make a list of all the damages along with determining if the SRS light returns, then bring it back for everything to be fixed to your satisfaction,, no questions asked.

Like I said, been there and done that,, I do feel your frustration and pray all works out to your liking.

I have yet to have my car in the service department. Currently I have just under 10K and am quite happy w/exception to a few minor rattles and the tires.

........................

lindros2

I also have the SRS (light) issue. I've come to ignore it (since it's like the 10th thing and I've grown apathetic).

-josh

cM3go

I wouldn't let this go, heaven forbid your SRS system is actually failing and you get into an accident and it doesn't deploy. I'd write a letter to your state and get the car replaced if they cannot resolve the issue.

Acctcanc13

Bump

lindros2

my light just stays on a little longer than I recall - rather than it blinking or beeping or something. Should it get worse, I'll call up my friendly service manager.