Okay, as most of you know I had my 09 TL at Acura 101 to replace the courtesy door light bulb that was out, well that turned into replacing the fuse junction box somewhere in the electrical system, no worries not anyone's fault really, just a glitch, and I was patient. Acura 101 gave me a nice loaner as they ordered the part, 2 days later it was done. Oh, and they were also checking into the "rubbing issue" on the steering column which leads me to this.

When I got into the car my first concern was my personal tech/NAV settings, iPhone address book is still in the system, seat settings, XM stations, etc...and it looks fine so far. However, when I put my foot on the brake, I noticed it was very rigid? I thought maybe it was just that I'd been driving the MDX and I haven't acclimated to my car yet. So I went off to my appointment and when I reached my destination I said to myself, this ain't right? So I looked down under the brake pad and...looky here, something is lodged in between the brake pad and the floor! My business partner flipped out when I showed him!

So, the first pic is how it was before I pulled it out when I left my appointment. Second pic is the housing of whatever it is on the mat so you could clearly see it, and the third is I guess where it's supposed to be? I called service at 4:45pm and told them the problem, and that I would be back first thing tomorrow morning to discuss this and show them what the deal is, but I'm getting more and more upset as I think about the possible dangerous safety issues that they put me it? So my question to you my fellow Acura enthusiasts, is what would you do?




For the record, I've been going to Acura 101 since I had my 87' Integra, and despite being rigid on pricing and zero customer "extra's" or free swag, they've been outstanding.

 

Geeze... I thought Acura was better than that!
I'd surely take it back and show them what happened - I'd feel they need to know. I'd also want them to explain what happened and how you can be assured it won't happen again.

 

You need to take it back and let them know. On the plus side, at least you know that nobody was racing around with your car.... they never would have been able to stop.

edit: BTW it is obviously a device to stop the brake from going down, though I've never seen anything like it before.

 

Technically it's not Acura at all straight arrow, as dealerships are independently owned. While the technicians are Acura certified and probably really good, their work slips on occasion as you can see. Colin, I can't tell if your joking or not in the edit comment, but I think it's the housing for the third picture posted to protect the bare elements.

 

No I didn't make the connection between the 2nd and 3rd pics. I though some mechanic had a device of some sort. I wonder what they needed to access that was under the housing? How did it attach? Did you put it back yourself?

 

Acura 101 has been very good to me as well for 8 years now. Service department has always been very good. Everyone makes a mistake, even doctors (but not me!) Get after them hardcore and voice your severe dissatisfaction. Looks like someone forgot to reinstall the housing.

 

That's inexcusable. That's not a problem with a tech, it is a problem with their methodology. I would want to know what they are doing to remedy the problem at the SYSTEMIC level. If they are messing with brakes/that area it should be verified and validated by someone else...so either there were multiple failures or they have a larger problem.

 

Like DrEvil said, we all can miss something and obviously the tech forgot to attach the cover. My service dept has often been a pain when diagnosing things, but in the end they come through. And I've seen that there is no one checking anyone elses work. When he's done that's it, he drives it out and I'm off. I do always look things over as best I can. You'd think they would have something as simple as JifffyLube where a manager or even just another tech takes a look with a fresh set of eyes to be sure things are done right. I'd doubt they will do anything but look really sorry as they apologize. And once you walk out the door they'll crack a joke about how funny it would have been if you couldn't have stopped and crashed your pretty TL.

But I'm glad you're in one piece.

 

Dangerous.

You should push for some freebies - Oil Changes, etc. You wont' get much more than that. Unless you threaten legal action.

You could aslo call the Copr Customer Service a lodge a complaint, demand to know what they've done to keep from getting someone in an accident in the future, et.

 

Colin, didn't you say you work for Acura? I thought you would have some insight as to what the heck that cover is? No worries, we can't all know every little thing, and there's a million parts in this car.

Hogger, we all forget things in our daily job, true, were not perfect, but if the brakes didn't function properly, and I was typing this from a hospital bed, it would be a different story. Most of us don't have jobs that deal with public safety. These guys get paid well, and the dealership charges us gobs of money to compensate that. Any small oversight can be deadly for others. And the fact that really annoys me, is that I told service to take their time with it, I wanted it put back together best as possible!, they failed there.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll take it all into consideration. I don't know what I'm gonna do? There is a serious undertone as to what could of happened that freaks me out a bit. Shit, not stopping when wanting to would be very bad and Acura 101 would go down big time, but nothing happened so I'm pleased no one got hurt. I'm a stand up kind of guy, and don't really sweat the petty things, but I'm concerned to say the least. One of my best friends is a lawyer and he happened to call asking me about a iPhone question, and I brought this scenario up to him and he now wants the details to pursue it, but I told him to wait until I visit the dealer. Vamos aver!

 

I wouldn't bring a lawyer into it as I doubt that will really give you what you want, especially if you have built goodwill up to the dealership. Just make sure you focus on the fact that it is a process issue and not an individual issue...that is unless they did crosscheck/inspect. 90% of the time something like this is a management issue as they own the system.

 

Bmode, that's pretty f'd up shit...best you can do is when you go in, ask to see the service manager so you can show him exactly where that piece was lodged. From there, ask him how this could happen and what can he do to install your confidence back into their service department.

 

One of our mechanics suspects (at first glance) that it's an amplifier related to the electronic power steering. He said that NSXs have something similiar though it's located elsewhere. (the TSX has it too).

 

Hey - It's the cover for the steering gear where it goes through the firewall. They pop onto the treads that hold the steering shaft to the frame. Maybe it is as simple as the tech's foot getting up under the brake pedal and knocking it loose. It snaps back on. Simple mistake except for it getting lodged under the brake pedal. Glad it didn't cause injury. I would snap it back on and be done with it. You can clearly see where it goes in the third picture.

 

That was my assumption too. I stopped by the dealer today and they snapped it back in and were apologetic, but I'm still going to follow through with a letter to the GM to convey my dissatisfaction and future concerns, provided I stay with Acura 101?

 

I dropped off a letter on Sunday for the GM, he called today (1pm?) and told me he received it and was impressed by it (but I don't know in what fashion?), and was going to consult his managers and get back to me. As I was typing this, I just saw a call come in from Acura Corp HQ, (410)774-8480, 8:11pm, but they hung up on my answering machine as I was going to screen the call. Hmmm, maybe that's in response to the surveys?

 

Ah, I see now that's the number from Maryland and it's a follow up call from my recent visit at the dealer. I look forward to the next time they call...

 

Good Lord dude, you should have just snapped the piece back in and lobbed a call to your service advisor telling him what happened. End of story. Move on.

That's ridiculous your "best friend" wanted to put you through a lawsuit for this...wtf is up with litigious people in our society...

If something actually happened, sure there's action to be taken, but let them know their error and go on with your day.

 

That's pretty much my take on it Type 34, I never believed in lawsuits, but you have to consider the safety issue at hand. Next time you hit your brakes think of my situation and get back to me. That's pretty F'd up that something so simple could put you in harms way, I mean we're not talking about a light being out anymore. You'd feel different if I was typing this from a hospital bed. What if I slammed into you from behind, would you sue me because your not litigious, all because of a little piece of plastic? Do you deal with public safety issues on a daily basis? You comment makes this topic seem rather trivial?

 

By the way, I received the 2nd call from Acura's survey. It didn't go well for Acura 101 in this review unfortunately. The Acura survey spokesperson needs a few lesson's on how to conduct a survey too? Man, cost are up on everything and service is down! Geez.

 

I would call the police to have a police report taken. I would then call my insurance agent to open a claim. If you felt like Acura was at fault for the accident, then it would be up to you to make them responsible for repairing your and my vehicles...if they disagreed with your claim, then you have every right to sue (your insurance company may do the battling for you).

My point is that none of that happened.

You stopped by the dealer, they were apologetic and snapped in the piece. You wrote a letter to the General Manager expressing your displeasure. The GM responded immediately and said he would consult his managers and get back to you. You received a call from Acura and you expressed your displeasure with Acura corporate regarding Acura 101's service and gave them a negative rating. You've informed this board of Acura 101's error in service.

Bottom line: you expressed your safety concerns and offered suggestions on how/why this shouldn't happen again; the dealer did it's due dilligence to address the issue.

To me it's case closed and thank the lucky stars that a small error didn't cause a big problem...

 

Werd, group hug? :gheyhug:

 

Go to: http://www.weathertech.com/service/a...onrequest.aspx and request rears for us :-p

 

This is kind of funny. I just got a automated call from Acura 101 stating that there is a recall on 2004-2007 TL's for a steering column issue. And they called on a old number that was registered with the Old TL that I turned in last November. And the hits just keep on coming...

 

Owner link is usually separate from the sales/service. I still get stuff on an S2000 that we haven't had for 1 1/2 years.