Anand Mehta

Just yesterday my '06 CIVIC EX MT COUPE stopped blowing cold air at just 5600 miles. It managed to get a hole in its condenser and the dealership mechanic says it's due to road debris !. Man, how flimsy or unprotected is this car ?.
Best of all, IT'S NOT COVERED UNDER THE BUMPER TO BUMPER WARRANTY ! and is going to cost me 600 bux !
I have a case with American Honda and they should be calling me up soon to see what they can do. I mean, if this can happen once, it can happen again because i drive on the same roads everyday. How am I, being a college student, supposed to handle this kind of cost !.

Anyone else have similar problems ? Do you know about the new grille design or any pertinnent flaws it could have ?

Anand

civic_dx-g

what is their reason for not covering it under warranty?

Anand Mehta

The owners manual states it and also honda would cover it only if it was a manufacturer defect, which apparently in this case it isn't .

civic_dx-g

i'd argue that it failing after such a short period of time is a manufacturer's defect, specifically it's not fit of intended purpose and fails the warranty of reasonable durability

kero

In my view due to the age of the car being so new, they should cover it to show good business practices.

Just another case of a dealership trying to get out of fixing something and you never know the reason they gave might not be the real reason and thus they try and get some money from you.

Always get a second opinion, it's a must in this case.

Also, contact the regional manager as well. They can truely help out in cases such as this.

Darkk

Contact America Honda and explained to them what happened. This happened to another '06 Civic owner when the car reached 1,500 miles and they told him to take the car back to the dealership to get it fixed which they did at no charge.

If this is becoming more frequent I'm going to wonder will Honda issue a quick fix like a shield or something?

Darkk

Anand Mehta

Finally, a American Honda Case Manager got in touch with me. THey are willing to take up the cost of parts as a show of Good Will, but not labor.

And guess what? The Honda Civic has no shielding/grille to protect the condenser. The Case Manager from American Honda told me this. I asked "so what f this happens again". All she said was that it can and i would have to get it repaired. Honda is attemting to work on a shield.

THIS SUX, and I'm not happy with a buy that an be easily damaged. What's sad is that a company like Honda with years of experience doesn't shield the condenser !!!

I'd like to contact the person that had this issue. If you have any link to his/her post or anyway i can contact him/her, i'll appreciate it. I can use that case as an example for the Cae Manager to get them to pay all the cost of repair.

KJ

kero

You are half way there, keep pushing, it's a new car, not acceptable.

Not the same as a flat tire or something like that.

Darkk

Here is the link I saw this at...

http://mycivicsucks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5

Darkk

emadasghar

Anand,
Go to the forum 8thcivic.com
There's an entire section on a-c condensor punctures on the 2006 Civic. It seems American Honda better offer a recall and install shields or they're going to have a revolt on their hands.

Here's the link: A/C Condensor Punctured - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum

chuckseider

Thanks for the heads up on the problem of stones damaging the condensing coil behind the grille. The referenced web site was especially helpful with photographs of damage and one persons solution by installing 1/4" hardware cloth. I made a screen using black fiberglass window screen and you don't see it like the shiny hardware cloth.

krstfrb

Hello all, I made this posting on another site, ( http://www.topix.net/forum/autos/hon...2NF40877B57GF6 ) and just thought I would paste it here as well.
For the record, if you haven't already, you should file a complaint at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/
Here is my posting:

I am having the same issue. After about 3500 miles on our 2006 Civic EX, our A/C failed. We just took it in and they quickly figured out that a pebble had punctured our A/C condenser. Of course, they refused to cover it under warranty, and likened the issue to a chipped windshield. This is obviously a ridiculous comparison. I don't think the A/C condenser was designed to deflect debris like the windshield was. My "service representative" in Beaverton, Oregon, said he personally had dealt with about 100 of these A/C condenser failures in his three years at Honda, but he did not see that as a problem. He was actually trying to use that point to show how common it is, so I should not argue whether or not I should pay for the failure (apparently everyone else just pays for it with no questions, so that means there is no problem). Never mind the fact that he is one representative of several at that dealership who have probably dealt with the same issue, or that there are numerous dealerships around Oregon and the rest of the nation with the same issues.
I see no incentive at this time for Honda to make any changes. There is a lot of money in it for them to make no changes and keep padding pockets with 500-700 here and there on BRAND NEW VEHICLES! We should not be required to come up with home fixes for their failure either. This is not some 1970 Pinto that you tie a rope to the windshield wipers to get it to work properly. We should expect that common precautions are taken BEFORE delivery. If I wanted something to work on, I would not have bought a new car!
I like Honda, but if this is not addressed the way it should be, I will be a former Honda advocate and will be warning my friends and family against purchasing these vehicles.

BostonCivicGuyMan

DAMN YOU HONDA!! I AM SOOOOO MAD!! My A/C just stopped working @ 16,000 miles and it is due to the same reason as the other have reported here (a/c condenser punctured by "road debris") . Spoke to American Honda and they told me that were not going to cover it and that I would have to pay $575 parts/labor fot the repair! This is unbelievable....you buy a car and only less than a year later the a/c doesn't work and to make it work you have to pay almost $600 dollars.....CAUTION FUTURE BUYERS: HONDA VEHICLES AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE! Hey Honda...smarten up on good business practices too because now you are being blatently noticed!

krstfrb

Hey Boston,
That is absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong! I just cannot for the life of me understand why Honda has not made a recall for this yet (other than the fact that they are probably making a ton of money by not doing so, and it would cost them a ton of money to do it... that seems to be what it all comes down to in the end)! It's not just Civics, other Honda vehicles are affected as well. The lady I originally spoke to tried to tell me they would not cover it as well, but I insisted that I speak to someone else. I eventually got someone with their head on HALF-WAY straight. He said they would fix it free of charge as a gesture of good will. They shouldn't be fixing these things as gestures of good will. They should be doing it because it is the right thing to do!
So, I just got our car back today, but now there is no guarantee that it won't happen again, so I need to get online to figure out how to rig something together to protect the A/C condenser since Honda is not willing to do it.
I am curious what some news organizations would think about this. I seriously think a lot of people would be shocked that Honda is willing to place a $600 piece of FRAGILE equipment at the front of the vehicle with NO PROTECTION!!

Bottome line, I am going to be rigging up my 2006 Civic EX... a brand new car...

If it helps, here is a phone number for you to contact. His name is Ron and is the one who worked with me at American Honda.
1-800-999-1009 ext 118038

Good luck.

BostonCivicGuyMan

Thanks krstrfb! I am currently fighting for the same thing and attempting to get it fixed for free (as it should be). I am calling American Honda so much at this point that I am hoping they just get sick of hearing my voice and take care of the problem, just like you! I am very upset about this whole thing and quite frankly don't have the time or money to be dealing with this! Thanks again!

BostonCivicGuyMan

Justice Finally, kind of? Well after fighting tooth and nail with American Honda and I mean after many, many, many conversations expressing my dislike of this entire matter and how Honda is handling it, they finally offered to pay 75% of the total cost of the repair parts/labor and I pay %25. I settled with this($140 is much better than almost $600), but still conveyed my disgust that this type of problem should not be occurring with these cars! I am going to have the work done next and I will follow-up to let you know how things went. If you have this problem with your car FIGHT TO THE END!! Honda will bend as they should...infact they should be paying for the whole thing! Also file complaints with the NHTSA, BBB, and your States Atty. General along with complaints to the Dealership and American Honda. Also thank you krstrfb for your help!

krstfrb

No problem Boston. I'm sorry to hear they didn't handle your situation as they should have, but as you said, it's better than full price. I wonder what their criteria is for deciding to pay for the whole repair for one person, but only offer 3/4 for someone else... How many miles on your car? Ours had 3500 when it happened, but when we finally we got it in, it had over 20,000, so they had no way of knowing if we were telling the truth or not. Also, we did not have our servicing done at the Honda dealership since it is almost an hour away, but they said they take that, and our history with Honda (none) into consideration as to whether or not they will be willing to help. I do have to say that I tried to be as professional as possible and just make my points without losing my temper and I think that may have helped...I'm not sure though...