Lemon From Hell.

deathjam4

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so not sure how many of you guys have had any of these issues but I put togeather a short thing about my year of hell with my 10th Gen. I want to post it on the net and want to make sure it’s clear. So here goes.

*yes I know this is more of a rant than anything but I am done being silent and am currently seeking action from honda Canada.*


Civic Issues

Ever thought buying a new car means no issues for a good long time? Well as much as this is believed to be true it’s not. New cars can be as much a Lemon as a used car. Let me tell you my story of what I call the year of hell .

It’s the beginning of 2018 and I have been looking at every dealership for a good deal to swap my lemon of an Audi I had for a new car. This brought me to Honda and it’s yearly clearance sale. After a few weeks of dealing with midtown Honda I came off the lot with a brand new Honda Civic 2017 hatchback sport and what I thought was the end of my car problems… how wrong I was..

I felt good in my new car till I hit my first bump and my teeth were nearly jarred out of my head… what the heck..it was not even a big bump and the only sound I was greeted with was the loud thunk and PATWANG of the tire taking the whole impact of the bump. I thought ok maybe it’s something simple but after the drive all the way home and the same issue for every crack in the road I knew there was an issue. I looked at it myself and was surprised to find the shock was stuck and would not move.. at this point there was 30km on the car. So I took it to the dealership and was careful the whole time to not damage any other components and was forced to drive it this way for another week before they could even bring it in and then when diagnosed and parts were ordered I had to drive it another week this way till they put in a whole new rear strut assembly.

This was the start of a long line of issues that pursued after this. During my visit they determined my auto door lock Handel had a malfunction and my window trim which on a lower class car was chrome but mine was plastic covered was folded over itself in many different spots on two doors. The issues took over a month to fix and during that time I kept finding more and more issues crop up. Some of these issues were things like tabs holding my grill in breaking off and letting it hang out by over an inch, the tabs holding my bumpers up on the corners slowly loosing their hold on the bumper causing it to warp and make a huge ugly gap, the car not accelerating when you hit the peddle and then suddenly 5 seconds later suddenly leaping into gear and jerking so hard I ended up with whiplash. These were the tips of the ice berg issues. Cause later on I would find out my car had a major lean to one side in the front and after many times of going to the dealer and over 600$ later they kept saying its normal. I found that issue out at 11,000km and have sine been forced to drive the car till now at 30,000. At this point the lean has caused me to ruin 2 sets of tires the sway bar links and sway bar bushings and the wheel bearings the front end sounds so loose now I fear it will fall apart at anytime.

Honda has had a few recalls as well which have not really helped the problems as well. Most people who own a civic will know there is a standing recall for an oil dilution issue with gasoline. Well their fix is just a oil change and a an update to the climate control which after my recall has not fixed the issue but seems to have made it worse. After 1000km of driving my car I checked the oil after the recall and it smelled like pure gasoline and was even running like water off the dipstick almost. Me having worked on cars most my life knew this was bad and meant most seals and valves in the engine at this point would be massively damaged by the gas mix and eventually this cars engine will seize on me. I tried having my car fixed but at this point I have so many things wrong with it that almost every part on my car is faulty or damaged due to other faulty parts causing excessive ware on them.

This leaves me in a bad spot cause the only way to be rid of this ticking time bomb is to trade it in to a dealer and make it their issue. Which unfortunately means I have to pay even more on my monthly payments cause this is only my first year in on my finance plan and I already took a huge hit on my previous car from Audi having to eat about 8000$ rolled into this car. There is not really any lemon laws in Canada so it leaves you at the complete mercy of the corporate giants they call car manufactures. There is a few places like OMVIC that will help you but there is no guarantee there either cause they can only help so much and is even limited to helping maybe getting your car properly put back into shape. So guess what when the car fails your still going to end up having to pay for it even tho you can’t drive it. Warranty covers some things but unless it’s a major part they often say “sorry but that’s a ware and tear item so you need to pay” or “oh you glued that panel back together so that’s been tampered with so you need to pay for that part “ even tho the reason you did it was so that it keeps the water out of a giant hole that broken part left behind.

A list of issues I have personally experienced with my civic hatchback are listed below so that you can get a scope of just how bad the issues are.

All felt window trim broken tabs so trim falls off.
Plastic trim around top of windows faulty
Faulty door Handel auto lock
Oil dilution recall(recall did not fix the issue)
Roof at hatch where it meets the side panels splitting and rusting
Erratic engine idle causing unexpected acceleration
All bumpers corners shifting and splitting off due to bad mounts.
Roof liner rattling even after replacement
All plastic easily scratched by touching even slightly. Including radio and dash cluster plastics.
Suspension not holding pressure properly causing lean to left.
Rear strut assembly replaced at 25km due to not functioning.
Both front wheel bearings
Both sway bar links worn out due suspension issues as well as bushings
Air intake leak at inter cooler since day one.
Un even tire ware due to suspension issues.
Door plastic broken from light pressure
Halogen bulb socket shorted and nearly caused a fire.
Radar system causes erratic driving and sudden braking

The radar one was actually really scary. So one day I was heading out of town on the 401 at 115km hr. Had cruise control and lane assist on. I came across a ramp that had no dotted lines and the car got confused as to where to drive and thought the ramp was the right choice and nearly drove me straight into a jersey barrier. I had to fight the steering wheel to get it back in my lane which the auto lane assist fighting me the whole time. I missed the wall by 10 inch’s and immediately turned off the cruise control and never used it again. Also some time before that during the winter I had cruise control on and the car suddenly locked up my brakes and said collision warning when there was litterly nothing in front of me and almost got me rear ended 3 times in 30 minutes before the system glitched out and I had no cruise control the rest of my trip. When I pulled over the first time and inspected the car I saw no signs of snow or dirt on the sensor or the window camera.

This all said and done I would defiantly not recommend this car to even my worst enemy cause no one deserves these kinds of issues. They are a safety hazard on the road and the thing I am afraid of is just how many of these mass produced safety risks are on the road. I already know the hatch back produced between 2016 and 2018 have an issue where the roof is separating from the body causing the rear roof to sag and the hatch to not close properly.

Jake.”

Any feed back and comparison story’s please feel free to add in.
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bluehatch17

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In 6/7 months, I have driven over 13k miles. And have not had a single problem.
 

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If it's a lemon then you shouldn't have to trade it in. Some of your complaints are trivial but if your transmission is having an engagement issue then this should be something the dealer takes care of.

If they replicate the car not engaging and then jolting forward after a FIVE SECOND delay that caused you whiplash , there's no way they could claim that to be normal.
 

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If they replicate the car not engaging and then jolting forward after a FIVE SECOND delay that caused you whiplash , there's no way they could claim that to be normal.
The CVT/ Turbo combo definitely has some annoyingly bad lag especially when punching the throttle from a low speed cruise. But, I have the feeling 5 seconds may be a bit of an exaggeration by the OP. If that was truly the case, the car would be 100% not normal and frankly unsafe as hell in traffic.
 
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deathjam4

deathjam4

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yea that was when i first got the car for the first 10k it did it almost every time i stoped at a street light. I have a light foot when i drive but the first time it happened it gave me whip lash my neck was sore for 2 weeks. I counted it a few times after that and the most delay i had was 4.6 seconds of delay. My car does not do it as bad any more but i think thats due to the fact my suspension is shot. preaty sure my engine mount may be shot as well cause of all the sudden jerking the car did. My car now has the feeling like the engine is rocking back and forth when you stop or go. over all i have seen gremilns with less issues probably drove better as well. I have a very noticable lean on my car spent over 600$ to get them to fix it but they kept saying its the ground its sitting on or its normal. I wasted way to much money already so getting honda canada involved.

The one thing i am curious about is had any one had the same issues i have with the cruise control system ? cause mine constantly slams my brakes on and i have nothing blocking the sensor
 


250GTCalifornia

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Your first mistake was going to Midtown Honda. The one in front of Yorkdale. That dealership is shit. The sales department pulled a fast one on my friend and the service department pulled a fast one on me. Absolute garbage.
 
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deathjam4

deathjam4

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Yea I know my first tell should have been not being aloud to see the car till I had a down payment and not being able to select the one I wanted out of 8 cars they had in stock. Midtown seemed good at first but when I kept coming back with issues I noticed the service started to decline. I just got off the phone with Honda Canada and they are going to send a Honda engineer to diagnose my car now. And I am doing the service at Sisley Honda. I have to diagnose I have no choice they only offered me 1500$ in credit and if I trade in now I’ll be 12000$ still owed on top ... kinda sucks all in all. Think once everything is said and done I’ll seek legal action against the dealership for all the trouble I have had to go threw for one stupid car.

And the problems with my Audi were numerous. The front crank seals all blew out the timing belt was not done before I got it, the steering had a jump in it at dead center meaning the steering rack was faulty so it never drove in a straight line always left or right, had a massive vibration in the front wheels, the back and front bumper I found out were repainted just before I bought it so the winter massively bleached the front and back bumpers. And found out it was involved in a big accident that was not showing on car fax. Over all tho I had less problems with that Audi then the Honda Civic I was even getting better mileage in the 2013 a4 then my Honda Civic which is odd considering the Audi was twice the weight .. lol
 
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250GTCalifornia

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Yeah, the service department that Sisley I find is much better. Not perfect, but leagues ahead of Midtown. I don't think your problem is with Midtown, but rather Honda Canada. If you weren't getting the result you needed just go to another dealership for a second opinion. When I was going through my spat with Midtown I looked up lemon laws in Canada and we don't have any here. You can submit an application to CAMVAP, but the ruling is final and you give up your right to take Honda to court.

https://www.camvap.ca/
 
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deathjam4

deathjam4

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I was looking at omvic but I also browsed this once as well. I think I would have a better time just taking them to court especially if they do not do the repairs and I mean all the repairs. Tho I don’t know how you repair a split or sagging roof that one is beyond my knowledge other then cutting the roof off I would think that’s unreasonable. Either way I need a full write up of the issues with my car so still need to do that with a dealership and it’s where I am stuck now. My friends wife is a lawyer so I they don’t resolve my issues I’ll be going full tilt into them with the force of the law and it will be for more then just the cost of a new car at that point.
 


250GTCalifornia

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Well, good luck. If you opt to take them to court it will be a while before you see any results. What does Sisley have to say about this?
 

PowerPerLiter

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I have to say with that list....looks like a lot of user induced griping....did you buy this car used?
That is usually the case with threads like these.

If its truly that bad and your as helpless as you claim up there in canadia against claims just find a cliff to push it off of.


edit: just realized you said you traded your "lemon" audi in as well.

Sometimes you just have to look at the common denominator.........
 
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deathjam4

deathjam4

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Yea I shoulda kept the Audi lol just not had much luck I am the first owner of this car and it has sucked the whole time. I was dong my oil change myself last night and checked a few things out. My axles on both sides had a lot of play and the engine moves around pretty dam easy as I expected was moving it around by hand back and forth and my trans sounds like it’s falling apart but could be normal I would need to jack up anouther automatic to know for sure. I have owned Audi’s for over 15years and never once experienced the slapping looseness my trany sounded like before. The axels would move around pretty freely at the trany mounts and I pointed this out on day one when I first had the car lifted. Also noted my car oddly was leaning to the left when I put it down so either my right strut got stuck on the way down (jacked up on both sides at jack points) it drives like a brand new car for a day or two after I jack it up but when the shocks settle back down again it’s like a jarring rattle box lol

I do all my work on my cars myself I rebuild old cars on my spare time so I know cars pretty well. I work on been doing so since I was 5 when I took a screw driver to school and started taking apart the bus on the way to school lol
 

PowerPerLiter

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Yea I shoulda kept the Audi lol just not had much luck I am the first owner of this car and it has sucked the whole time. I was dong my oil change myself last night and checked a few things out. My axles on both sides had a lot of play and the engine moves around pretty dam easy as I expected was moving it around by hand back and forth and my trans sounds like it’s falling apart but could be normal I would need to jack up anouther automatic to know for sure. I have owned Audi’s for over 15years and never once experienced the slapping looseness my trany sounded like before. The axels would move around pretty freely at the trany mounts and I pointed this out on day one when I first had the car lifted. Also noted my car oddly was leaning to the left when I put it down so either my right strut got stuck on the way down (jacked up on both sides at jack points) it drives like a brand new car for a day or two after I jack it up but when the shocks settle back down again it’s like a jarring rattle box lol

I do all my work on my cars myself I rebuild old cars on my spare time so I know cars pretty well. I work on been doing so since I was 5 when I took a screw driver to school and started taking apart the bus on the way to school lol
I can understand. The ride complaints were many when I worked at Honda. They more or less have been stiff(er) riding like they are since the early 2000s.
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