Does Anyone Have a Good Honda Rep Contact?

[H Cumberdale]

Hi all. This is my first post. I have had the rear upper control arm negative camber issue with my 2006 4-door LX since I purchased it brand new. I just recently came across this forum and found this thread: Do all Civics eat tires? It has gone through rear tires from Day 1. I would start out rotating them regularly (approx every 7,000), but the rear tires would develop flat spots so bad the dealer would start refusing to rotate them. The car also sounds like a monster truck going down the road and I get wheel hop in the rear. As eating tires seems like very odd and unexpected behavior for a 2006 Honda, I asked the service advisors on several different visits why my car is going through tires. They always shrugged their shoulders and implied it's just the way it is with the new Civics. They never suggested to put it on a lift and inspect it. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, I discovered this forum and the thread I linked above. I took my car to the dealer this week (same one I bought the car from and where I go for all service - I'm in California). They looked at my car and verified that I do indeed have the control arm issue; however, they informed me that they will not cover it because I'm out of warranty - at a quote of over $800. I raised hell and said that this was a known factory defect on an only 3 year old car and Honda should stand by their product and step up to the plate here. Not only that, I had been in the same service dept several times complaining of the symptoms, and the service advisor just shrugged his shoulders - when there was actually a TSB on the issue! The ignorance was their fault. Jump back to earlier this week, the service advisor said he'd call the Honda rep and get back to me. When he got back to me yesterday he indicated the Honda rep would have covered it as a "Good Faith" repair if I had 60k miles, but my 85k mileage was too high. With no uncertainty I let him know I wasn't happy with their determination. I called Honda myself and talked to a customer service rep and she gave me the same run around that I'm out of warranty and they'd do nothing for me. Here's why I'm upset over the issue: 1) The car has a known factory defect that was present from Day 1. This issue isn't due to normal wear and tear. Honda knows there is a defect - they issued a TSB and developed a repair kit. They need to stand by their product. 2) I mentioned on several occasions to the service advisor about the rear tire wear and flat spot issue. The TSB was out. They should have put 2+2 together. I believe I was still under warranty when I first started mentioning it to them, so it would have been fixed if they were competent. I'm certain I mentioned it within the 60k mile "good faith" repair time period. This is what will satisfy me: Honda or the dealer pays for the repair kit plus labor. I am very willing to pay for alignment and tires as I feel those are elements that do fall under a normal wear and maintenance scenario. Here's my question to all of you: How can I really be heard here? The dealer is aware of my complaint. Honda America indicated they were logging my complaint. But, what do I need to do to really grab the attention of a decision-maker in this process? Write letters? If so, to whom - the dealership general manager? I feel the customer service rep worker bee types are playing interference so my case isn't getting to the actual people that can do something -- all the customer service reps say is "I'm sorry for your frustration." Does anyone have a contact name, email address, or postal address for a good contact?

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[gearbox]

i will save you some money by telling you whatever they plan to do for $800 will NOT fix your problem. honda reps are generally ignorant of any tsbs and recalls and certainly will not volunteer to fix your car for free. welcome to taking your car to the dealer, all they do is charge overinflated rates for barely adequate work so they can buy flatscreen tv for the lounge and pay out bonuses to the managers. i stopped going a long time ago when it was one messup after another with them. after a while i found it easier to just buy the honda service book and start learning how to diagnose and repair stuff myself. but getting back to your issue, take it to a good alignment/suspension specialty shop and have them look at it. you will eventually need to get an aftermarket camber kit (what most people get for their cars after adding lowering springs so they can align the car properly). the honda parts are defective and no amount of replacing them will allow the proper alignment to be set. check out kits by spc or ingalls. also look on 8thcivic.com which is an 06+ dedicated forum and im sure they have much more experience with the issue than we do here being mostly 01-05 civic forum. once you get the new kit installed and alignment (no slanted rear wheels / like this), then you can get some new tires since the old ones are prolly shot.

[H Cumberdale]

Gearbox, thanks for the suggestions. I have no problem going aftermarket anyway since I burned a bridge with the dealership.

I will definitely check the 8thGen forum. I didn't realize my post here was primarily 01-05 cars. (Damn Newbie)