Swat Dude

I hesitate to post this because I told my service advisor I was a retired cop and if he surfs this forum, I'm busted but here goes...

guess I should leave well enough alone but I took my list in on my TL when I had the first oil change. I posted a previous thread that listed what I had fixed. One issue was an off center air bag. The dealer straightened this but about 3 weeks after I got it fixed, I needed my horn in a sticky situation on the freeway and guess what, nothing!!!! So I took it back in and the dealer "fixed" the horn, but the air bag is now off center! To top it all off the mechanic got his dirty hands all over the dash and front seat and they apparently missed this when they provided the complimentary wash and vacuum.

Also, I was getting some buffeting out of the right vent which they replaced. It still buffets (which I've now found is a design flaw) but now when I close the vent off, the dealer added a nice whistling sound that changes pitch with the fan speed. He has ordered a second replacement vent and is to call when it comes in.

Based on their piss more performance and inability to correct several of my initial quality issues, I chose not to have them replace the radio for the small hair or fiber that is stuck in the display. God knows how they would have hacked my dash replacing that.

6mtV6

My air bag is off center too. My 2003 Accord Coupe's air bag was off center. So this doesn't bother me much.

Doesn't the dealer put a plastic cover over your seats when you bring it in for service?
This dealer doesn't seem to know what they are doing. Are there any other Acura dealers you can bring your TL to?

astro

you want your radio replaced cuz there's a small fibre in the display? this place never ceases to amaze!

BritBoyInSC

What sort of hair is it ! :p ?

apwalsh

Monkeys screwing a football? Someone just watched "Miracle" I've been waiting for a time to use that line also!

Swat Dude

It looks like an eyelash.

Novice

Can yo use a can of compressed air to get rid of it?

BritBoyInSC

"It looks like an eyelash."

I thought the monkey may have been banging your radio as well

Swat Dude

Negative, I asked the dealer that and he said the display is completely sealed and the whole radio would need to be replaced. Its a funny thing how few parts these cars break down to. I had fingerprints on one of the Xenon lenses and they could not just clean the lense, but had to replace the whole assembly. I don't blame Acura for this (except for the fact they let it slip by) because I'm sure they outsource these components from another vendor.

Okay, so I'm a picky bastard but what can I say, I work hard for my money and I didn't have any quality issues like this with my 2002 Camry.

Swat Dude

I keep my car meticulously clean and its just one of those minor annoyances. I'm just glad its an eyelash and not a pubic hair.

Nicki

How do you tell if you have an off center air bag?

Novice

Can't blame you for that. I would get annoyed as well. I am sure you will sopt staring at the hair soon. At least, you don't have to deal with these bugs called Cicadas that come out every 17 months. I get attacked by 5-10 of them on the road. These are huge bugs and actually left some minor paint damages near the front bumper. No joke.

Swat Dude

There was no gap on the left and about an eigth of an inch gap on the right, that is between the air bag cover (horn surface) and the part of the steering wheel with the cruise and audio controls that mates up to the cover. Again, just a minor annoyance and quality issue.

apwalsh

It's actually every 17 years and I think they are all over the country when they do come around.

Novice

Sorry, I meant 17 yrs. If it was every 17 months, I would be walking instead of driving!

TLGator

It might be a small pubic hair. It might be a Japanese pubic hair. It might be a pubic hair that flew off a monkey while screwing a football. What the hell does that mean, anyway?

I think you're being too picky by asking for these little tiny things to be fixed. It's like that one loose strand of thread on your favorite shirt. No one can see it until you start pulling at it and you end up making a bigger mess. Just leave it alone. I don't mean this to sound rude, but you've almost gotten what you deserve, or what you should have expected anyway. Is there any evidence that a slightly off-center airbag is unsafe? No gap on one side and a 1/8th inch gap on the other, so you wanted what - they should make it 1/16th inch on each side? That's almost laughable.

Novice - In Indiana a man flipped his pick-up truck because a cicada flew into his car and distracted him so much that he had to swerve to narrowly miss a pedestrian. At least no one was seriously hurt. For those of you who don't live in areas where these bugs are presently infesting, believe me, they are definitely big enough and loud enough to distract drivers and cause car accidents. I'll bet we hear of more before June is over. Until then, I'm keeping my windows rolled up and getting in and out of my car as fast as I can.

Novice

Ha ha TLGator:

Thank god they are not pink!! When they fly straight toward me while I am driving, I sometimes wonder about if I could get into car accident by trying to avoid them!!

vothsc

Where I work, we did our day of volanteer work cutting trails at a girl scout camp and the first thing you noticed was a loud weering sound like the flying saucers in old scifi movies. When we started cutting trails, the vegitation was covered with them and soon we were too. It's a good thing they don't bite or sting. I'm not looking forward to the king size bug splats these things will make.

Swat Dude

Again, none of these issues with my 2002 Camry. And before you start flaming and telling me to go back to my stupid Camry, just so you know, I still like my TL way better!

GaleForce

How can you tell if the airbag is off center? Is the steering wheel area just crooked?

TLGator

Novice - maybe the larvae are pink. (Actually I think they are white. Or at least, the full-grown cicadas are white for a brief time when they first emerge from underground.)

GF - He felt the airbag was off-center because of a slight difference in the gaps on either side. Really a bit too anal I think. Dealers should do all they can to please customers, but in this case the dealer might have been rolling his eyes a bit.

fuque

This is Honda's fault. They tout how tight their tolerances are for body panel fit all the time; it should be no surprise when the customer comes to expect that same sort of fit and finish on the interior pieces, especially something that's literally right under your nose every time you drive the car.

NightRider

These bugs are really big and make loud annoying sounds too, except they are around all the time. Any bug this size is sure to give you a nice time next time you wash your car, I ran into a dragonfly or something on the highway, and the damn thing left a gut splat the circumfrence of a pop can on the windshield! I thought I was going to have to bring out the sulphuric acid to get this gunk off, it took about 15 minutes of hard scrubbing as it had dried for a couple days

TLGator

You don't understand.

The cicadas only come out to mate once every few years. This brood, the biggest by far, comes out only once each 17 years. When they hatch from the ground, they are so horny they will screw anything. They are louder than drunken sailors. Millions and millions of them. The sound is literally defeaning. In Baltimore one person's backyard was measured at almost 100db. The city officials said the bugs would be jailed for noise pollution if they were people. They fly into your cars and make a buzzing noise near your ear that would literally wake your dead ancestors. It is easy to become distracted, which is one of two reasons I try very hard not to let one in the car with me.

The other reason, of course, is that I don't want these nasty critters inside my nice new car.

Joeeder

I posted previously about problems that I have also experienced with Acura of Tempe. Even though I live in Ahwatukee, I plan on making the drive up to Scottsdale for service issues from now on... Too bad, since I had a nice buying experience there and loved the facility...

Monkey screwing a football....good stuff.

beetroot_RENAMED

hey swat dude... try Bell Acura instead. they are much better than the Tempe or Scottsdale Acura dealers.