thelinux

What would you do if dealer technician do this to your new car? You see the second dash cover clip from left? and see there is no female part of this clip???



I took my new car (bought about a month ago) to dealer to repair few things so far. steering wheel rattle, dash tweeter rattle and door checker replacement... Yesterday I was hardwiring my portable navigator and I found this. They broke this part.??!!!



Should I take this car to the dealer and demand for a fix? A fix would be replacing the dash cover around the guage cluster. I can't believe they did this my car and hiding it from me.
What do you guys think?

csmeance

dealerships do it and get away with it, they don't think anyone will peek back there. Also even if the dealer did want to replace it, it'd be pretty big penalty, the entire dash would need to be replaced for that one clip. Thats about 10 hours of labor just to pull it off properly.

VQPower37

personally if it were me i would take it back ... my dealer is usually pretty good about fixing anything they break, so i am assuming your dealership should be that bad but i dunno ... juss know that when they fix one thing they ALWAYS break something else, so make sure you have patience and time to keep taking the car back until you can get everything fixed to ur standards

thelinux

So what do you recommend? Even if they agree to fix it, I am worried that they would break something else too. Would it be a bad idea to demand a fix?

atlplayer4life90

take it back take it back

csmeance

think about it, first they can blame you for doing it because you can see its missing by removing the panel. Your best bet is to put it back together and tell them the panel is rattling and seems loose, then tell the dealer you want to see the panel and whats wrong with it when they take it out so you can help out a buddy with the car out of warranty too. The tech will start taking the panel off and then foam it, etc, then you point out the missing clip.

thelinux

That means I have to un-do all the hard wiring for my navigator.
Yes, I thought about it too. They could probably say I am out of warranty on that part since I removed that cover and they could blame me for breaking it. I personally don't want to have them to fix it because it could do more harm than good (breaking more other stuff and causing more rattles). But instead I would like to ask something else as a conpensation.
It looks ok with that broken part. The cover is holding tight in its place. So What is good thing to ask as a compensation if I do so? A life time free car wash?

Bearcat94

Broken clips happen. They really are not designed for repeated dis-assembly/assembly.

It's not like it went in for rattles and came back with leaking brake lines or something.

If you take it back, maybe it gets fixed on their dime. Doubtful anything serious will go wrong so it comes back "worse".

OR

You can live with the disappointment that your car has a broken clip and is no longer perfect.

BG74

Imagine the damage they might cause removing and installing your entire dash if they did that kind of damage simply investigating a rattle. It is a HUGE job involving hundreds of fasteners, clips and wiring looms.

I know it sucks, and I'd be pissed too...but you're probably better of leaving it as-is.

wall e

when u say new car, do u mean a '08 TL? cuz that sucks that ur getting repairs done on a new car. was it an Acura Dealer that did the repairs cuz u should only let acura tech's work on ur car if u cant do it urself. I dont trust any place but the acura dealerships, yea its more $$$, but i doubt that they would do something shady like that to a TL.

but if i was in ur shoes i would juss leave it as is. its not worth all that trouble and if u do repair it, something much worse might happen during the process. like bandage repair to surgery repair kinda thing.

thelinux

Yes it's 2008 TL with only 1200 miles on it. And yes, it was the Acura dealership where I bought my car.

Tripnbeats

are you sure you didnt break it pulling things apart???

thelinux

I am 100% certain that I did not do this.
When I pulled them out the temperature was about 60F. Before I pull them out, I ran the car for about 5 min with heater at MAX to warm up the cabin to help parts get flexible. (Cold = no flexibility = easy break). When I pulled them out, it came out easy. No broken part came out except that I found a size of nail cut plastic piece which looks like a part of that broken clip holder. (Probably the dealer technician failed clean up his crime scene completely.)

tech14

I would go in and at least inquire about what they could do to fix it. I believe it never hurts to ask. What is the worst they can say...no? I discovered a small ding on my trunk lid after I bought my new 2008 TL, and I was upset. I took it back in, and they agreed to repaint the trunk lid and clear it for free. You never know what they will do if you ask. If they mess it up again, then take it back again.

Tripnbeats

yea just asked man always gotta ask... then I say do it go to them n call them out on it. get it fixed

Babnik

I would just forget about it, if they were to try to fix it they'd probably break something else. It's not like it reduces the value of your car or makes it look or perform worse in any way.

Kracker

I have to look over my car every time it goes to the dealer.

They broke the oil cap when they changed my oil.
They dyed my A pillar when they fixed my fading dash (then scratched the steering wheel whit their zipper fixing the A pillar).
Cut the lower ball joint when they replaced a bushing on the lower control arm. And then didnt align the car per the service manual instructions.

I went there and told the manager (about the oil cap, no harm no foul) that they need to be forthcoming, and talk to the person that worked on my car.

Now I tell them don't wash it, don't look real hard at it... Dont break anything else. I dont think they like me now.

cotmfk

I am always wary of dealerships. Whether it's Acura, BMW, Toyota, Chevy, Mitsu... etc.etc.etc. doesn't matter. They are in a for-profit business. So, whatever they think will help them make more profit, they will do.

I would just live with that broken clip unless it is making more rattles. After all, you didn't notice anything until you pulled the dash apart to do another job.

thelinux

Ok, Take a look at this picture.




I've been getting noises from driver side vent since my last visit to the dealer. The vent was not sitting tight so I could easily move the vent around (up down, left right..) making a kind of squeaking noise.
I used little force to pull out the vent just to see how loose it is (not with an intention to take it off completely). It came out a lot enough to make me think I can completely take it off easily. So I decided to see if I can take it off completely. Surprisingly, it came out completely without using much force. So I took some pictures with my phone. As you probably know (who took this vent out) there are two clips on the right side of the vent. Looks like the black thingy in red circle A in the picture is for the upper clip and I thought where is the thingy for lower clip??? It looks like something is missing or broken at circle B.
Is something broken there? or is all TLs looks like mine?