Honda

On the CA DMV notification stating that the recall requirements were not met were instructions to call the CA ARB with questions. I called CA ARB and got a message that they don’t take calls and instructed to send an e-mail which I promptly did. I received a notice back from CA ARB that a “pink form” was required from Honda in order to complete the recall verification process and that the dealership would be able to assist. I called the Honda dealer I purchased the car from and spoke to a person in their service department who instructed me to contact American Honda about getting the verification notice.

I then called American Honda and opened up a case, thoroughly explaining the situation and have gotten absolutely nowhere. I have literally spent 2-3 hours on the phone with American Honda with one of their case workers telling me that the system shows the recall completed but they don’t have a form to supply to verify and use to mail to the CA DMV even though the fees have been paid to the DMV and American Honda says they show the recall being completed. Honda kept telling me this is a DMV issue... Well, it’s a recall issue that Honda is required to do and the DMV requires Honda to supply verification that it has been completed so that makes this a Honda issue with supplying the paperwork that they agreed to supply the customer to forward to the DMV.

The last call I received back from a different case worker at American Honda (it was escalated to a manager) was Friday afternoon and their position is that the car is in Texas and they have different smog requirements than CA and that the dealership in TX may not be certified to complete or properly perform the recall for CA (?) – I was told by the previous case worker that the recall had been completed according to their system. Their (Honda America) case worker manager’s suggested solution is that I go to Texas to register the car there and then bring it back to CA and re-register it in CA when my daughter finishes school. I guess that may sound reasonable to someone somewhere (?). CA ARB says that there is a pink form required from Honda to send to the CA DMV to handle this. Why can’t American Honda figure this out? Someone somewhere within Honda would have set up the recall program and have some knowledge on how to resolve the matter without having to change the state of registration.

In the meantime, the tags are now expired and the issue remains that I have purchased a $40,000 car from Honda that has an emissions recall and due to their inability to supply me with proof of completion or instruct the Honda dealer in Texas the necessary steps in completing the recall and it’s requirements to allow it to be registered. I am stuck with a vehicle I can’t register short of driving it 4,000 miles round trip to bring it to CA for a recall procedure or traveling to Texas myself so I can register it there.

Short story facts: On Aug 5th, 2022, our vehicle had a catastrophic transmission failure on a flat road in Longo’s parking lot, which defeats the purpose buying a new car to avoid these kinds of situations. Our transmission is covered by warranty. Road-Sport Honda, Scarborough, did not provide a replacement vehicle. Moreover, they didn’t take responsibility for the failure; the representative of the dealership kept saying that they can do nothing, and everything is depending on Honda Canada, and kept repeating “It is a global shortage, and we can’t provide a loaner/rental car”. We were able to move the car to another dealership, Queensway, from which we promptly got a rental on September 8, 2022.

Three full months and a week passed and still we do not have a date when a transmission will be delivered to the dealership. The Dealership doesn’t know when the parts are coming, since Honda Canada is providing them, and they are under TBA status. We called 7 times Honda Canada Customer Relations and we got nowhere only variations on the following theme: “it is a global shortage of parts, and we can do nothing for you”, even two times I spoke with case manager Loren (case # **). When we asked for updates, we were told that there are not enough employees to provide this service and that the Dealership is first to be informed when the transmission will have a delivery date.

Our car it is in the same spot parked at the dealership for 14 weeks, would you think that the tires or the breaks are not affected? We got the rental car after 5 weeks, because we moved the car to a different dealership (Honda Queensway, thank you). We do not have the winter tires on the rental, we cannot go out of Ontario due to rental insurance policy, so we can’t honor the vacation we planned and paid. We can’t go over the border in US for Christmas shopping. We are diligent in to pay all our commitments such as car loan or insurance, but still, we do not have the car we are paying for.

We drive as rental a different SUV a Hyundai Tucson, which is expensive on gas, not quite an equivalent car. When we call Honda and ask when we will have the part, we are told you do not have a timeframe and you can do nothing for us, even when we proposed alternative solutions like gives us the money back or gives us a new car minus the tear and wear for this existent car or fix right away in the past 14 weeks.

We wrote three emails on Sept 19, 2022, and we were replied and told on the Sept 20, 2022, that is nothing to do when we asked for a date for delivery for the transmission or to be reimbursed since we feel like we got a lemon or to have a new car minus the wear and tear. When we wrote a reply to the Sept 20 Honda’s answer on Sept 26, 2022, we didn’t get any response. When we asked by phone why Alex on Sept 30, we were told that already we got a reply on our concerns on Sept 20 so no other follow up from Honda is needed.

"We can do nothing for you" is all we got from our efforts when we contacted Honda Canada. This is how you treat your customers? When you got a report saying we have a failure of a transmission after reaching over 16,600 km on a new Honda 2022, no bells are ringing? Why don’t you think of, "How can we get the trust of our customer by taking a transmission from the new cars line and quickly fix this and satisfy this existing customer, and potentially letting a future customer to wait a little bit"?

Details for this story: Current vehicle Location: Queensway Honda, Service Dept. History: On Aug 1st, 2022, while driving, we heard a metallic noise when I accelerated. On Tuesday August 2nd, 2022, I went to the dealership Road-Sport Honda, in Toronto-Scarborough from where I bought the car, to report the noise. I had expected them to check the vehicle, but instead I was scheduled an appointment for the 8th of August at 9:15am. (I have the email sent on Aug 2nd to prove it.) On Wednesday August 3rd, I went again since the noise was continuing. I thought if I went again and told them that I was in the VIP program and had the extended warranty, we would be successful in either having the appointment moved earlier or in checking the noise on the spot, however, nothing changed.

We did not use the car again until Friday August 5th when we went to do shopping at Longo’s on Laird, at which point the car broke down. Road-Sport Honda did not provide a replacement vehicle. Moreover, they didn’t take responsibility for the failure; the representative of the dealership kept saying that they can do nothing, and everything is depending on Honda Canada. It was extremely hard for them to believe that the car had a broken transmission, so they did not want to provide a loaner/rental car and we quote, they said: “It is a global shortage situation, and they cannot provide it”. We were able to move the car to another dealership, Queensway, from which we promptly got a rental on September 8, 2022.

We have been continuing to pay the biweekly payments and insurance for more than 6 weeks now and we still do not have a date for repair since the transmission has a status of TBA as the estimated delivery time. I called Honda Canada on Sep 09, 2022, and expressed my concern and a “case” was created, and I was told a case manager would call me back. I called back on the 12th of September, spoke with Angela, and at this time I was told that the case manager will call in 3-5 business days from my first call, and she has no news regarding the TBA status of the transmission. The case manager called on the 15th of Sep. 2022, Mr. Loren, and told me that my case is #**, and he has no updates regarding the date when the transmission will be sent to the dealership.

We didn’t feel was helped in any way with this call, with the creation of the case. On September 30, I spoke with Alex, and he told me that, "We can do nothing for you." On October 6, 2022, we spoke with Marge, and she told us that only the Dealer can tell us when, she doesn’t have any updates, same when we spoke with Maria on October 14,2022. On October 24 we spoke with Angela, she had no updates for us, we expressed our concerns and asked for Loren the case manager. We spoke then with Loren other than no news, nothing can be done, we got the advice to call every time when we got concerns and ask for him and that lately we less calls received probably because the parts are started to be received, but no promise for us.

We are wondering why this wasn’t already reported to you, Honda Canada, and a case made after 6 weeks with no solution for the critical failure occurred on a brand new car; so I had to call to have a case open; why I still having to wait another 5 business days to be called by Honda Canada case manager; why am I having these calls trying to solve this situation; why haven’t you contacted, concerned for me the customer, with a car under warranty with transmission broken?

We suggest that Honda Canada would improve the process by giving the Customers updates on status in cases such as mine when it is not a minor defect. All my friends are surprised too! We are extremely frustrated since we have only one car for the family. This is now the 3rd vehicle we have purchased from Honda and have been loyal customers. My 1st car I purchased from you was a Civic, then an H-RV M.Y. 2016 in perfect condition which was traded in for the H-RV 2022 for about $20,000; due to this development we have started to regret that we traded in. Friday morning, we were called by Honda Canada after 14 weeks. I will keep you posted with the results….

Robertino and Cristina **

Not worth the price tag if parts will fail like this. ESPECIALLY considering we were in the middle of a pandemic and it was hardly used at all over that time. Now? I am taking what had been my dream car for the last 15 years to literally ANY OTHER car manufacturer and trading it in instead of paying ANOTHER $3,000 out of pocket to replace their faulty part. ANYONE else can fix it and get the money for it. I will never buy another Honda again, and I will warn everyone I come in contact with to totally avoid giving them their business. They do NOT stand behind their products and do NOT have decent customer service.