Actually, it's closer to 700,000+ people. JDM vehicles that use the L15 re also affected. The Freed I think is one. 555 mentioned a few.

~SB

 

Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, Honda decided to make it a full out recall because it would rather avoid the alternative?

Imagine that there were just a few more complaints and even a few accidents from Fits that suddenly stopped working on the highway being hit from behind by drivers that didn't react quickly enough.

That from a mechanical standpoint it's still too few to actually warrant a recall, that most analyst would count it as within a margin of error.

But yet, those people took their complaints along with some greedy lawyers (impossible!) and decided to file a class action lawsuit. They even get the government involved, with accusations of a cover up.

Don't have to imagine, Toyota got smacked with it.

Isn't it at all possible the only reason isn't because they view it as truly significant issue, but in the hope of avoiding Toyota's hoopla?

No matter how honest you are about how minor an issue is, you get enough people blowing it out of proportion, and you're screwed.

 

Yeah, I've considered it...infact read my posts...

I really do just want to drop it...but..my speculation is that if it is a condition that is likely to result in increasing failure as these vehicles age...then Honda obviously feels they cannot afford to wait...

As I said, better recall today...then a flood of increasing reports of engine failure 3 years from now..coupled with the potential for accidents and fatalities..

Given that failure can result in stalling....and probably at high speed..Honda cannot afford to do anything but what Honda is doing...

I do credit Honda for doing the right thing...however as a Fit Owner...I wish they did not have to do it...

 

From the posts, it seems completely about entitlement, all the negative or "disappointment" posts or conspiricy theories all indicate that the poster feels Honda did not do enough to address this issue.

If you were personally affected, and your car is broken AND Honda did not compensate you for your broken car or made you jump through hoops; then you have a valid gripe.

Is your car working within normal parameters at the moment? I assume yes. After the recall repair work is completed, is your car going to come back better, worse, or exactly the same? I claim there should be just about no difference in your car. Actually, it'll come back better if your dealer throws in a car wash and cleans your car.

Then what is all the dissapointment and conspiricy theories, lawsuits about? I think somehow you feel that this recall makes your car defective, or the recall repair itself will somehow screw up your car.

So what is it you wanted to happen that would make this not dissapointing or what mistake did you think Honda made in the handling of this? Did you expect the President of Honda to come to your door with a bowed head and give you 1000 apologies for the inconvenience of having to replace a part?

Your car is working at the moment, it's going to work after the recall work too. If somehow you were expecting more,that's the entitlement I am talking about.

 

Thems the breaks.

For me, it makes little difference between a company that has a perfect record and a company that has the occasional flaws, but rectifies them in a timely matter.

It the companies that attempt to hide, deny and ultimately do a poor job of handling it that bothers me.

 

Yes..but where are you hearing ANYTHING that you just mentioned? I think it's perfectly valid to be dissapointed if you are involved with having to deal with this recall...at least it's going to be a sacrifice of time and effort...so I'll give you dissapointment...

But who is saying anything about filing a lawsuit? Who is saying anything about expecting The President of Honda to make a statement....

I advance no conspiracy theory...only that I'm relatively sure Honda decided to embark on this recall based on analysis of potential outcomes including what NOT embarking on a recall would result in...

If they did indeed change the specs of the spring in question mid-production..then they could not very well leave all the rest made and produced before that change the same...

Basically...a recall is indicative of a problem. All manufacturers work to avoid them...

I don't hear anyone saying Honda isn't doing the right thing...I don't hear anyone saying they plan to file a lawsuit...

None of the things you SAY anyone is saying, I have heard in this thread.

I'm dissapointed and upset that my Honda Fit was involved with a recall...and I'm not going to apologize for that reaction.

Did I or anyone within this thread suggest Honda owed anyone any more than what they are providing?

Trust me...in the big picture recalls might be part of Business as usual for a car manufacturer...BUT...they all would like to avoid them.

If I point anything out...or have a slightly separate opinion it is that Honda and Toyota better be careful and redouble quality control efforts and procedure. (this is opinion) But for decades both Honda and Toyota had a sterling armor reputation for quality. This is fading...and there is much more competition on the horizon with KIA, Hyundai and Ford..

 

This thread is getting waaaaaaaay too out of hand. How about this, why don't we keep to info about what's going to be done for us, the actual work that's going to be done for us (if somone knows) and even better, how well and quickly the work was done to those who get the recall taken care of next month? Hell, I even wanna hear from those who get the letter and when they get it and how long they've gotta wait to get in and how long the repair takes, how about that?

Recalls have been a part of the automotive business for decades, remember, the parts are built and installed by humans in one way or another, even in Japan, so let's remember who's built this car, not Yugo, remember that!

 

Phew, such controversy. Any one ever stop and ask the question why? Or what constitutes a recall any way?

Wikipedia:
That's got little to do with consumer interests - hence my 'lawyer' reference.

Then there's this: Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC History

Our government has 'established' procedures to pressure industry into playing to the consumers interests. Fortunately it's spread world-wide, well most of the world. How about the industrialized world, forget the third world countries, why muck about wi.... nope, not even going to go there.

 

FYI all. Picked this up on the web. Some details of the lost-motion-spring in the article for background info. I guess with only a handful, they can do this. However, note that the article points out "emergency press conference." Hmmm...

Honda recalls 5,468 cars with faulty springs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

 

I hate the inquirer.net site with a passion.

Those fanboi flame wars (Fit vs Fiesta, Xbox360 vs PS3) are trivial in comparison.

 

Since cars don't last forever, I assume that car companies have at least a rough idea of how long parts last- mean and standard deviation of average life. So they know, say, how many water pumps will fail around 100,000 miles.

And that's fine, we can't expect cars to last forever, and we know that some things will go wrong. Some people's cars will have no problems for 200,000 miles and other similar cars will have a bunch of things go wrong.

BUT-- if the company discovers that a part's failure is starting to exceed what they think is reasonable, or it's a part whose failure will be catastrophic (by cost or safety) then they're more likely to recall the cars to fix it.

I had an early Acura and the info said nothing at all about the timing belt. Then Honda realized that they didn't last forever and told owners that the belts needed to be replaced.

No recall, no apology, we owners just had to suck it up and pay for it.

That's a risk you take when you buy a car. Don't like it? Then buy some car that hasn't changed in a decade and you can ask people what goes wrong and when. And still it's a gamble as to what goes wrong over the life of the car.

 

This is a big deal, On the good side the whole upper cylinder head will be rebuilt hopefully with new parts. If they re use the parts they have, they to be sure to put it back into the right place meaning each cylinder to the original parts so the wear parts are on the right cylinder. The easy way would be to replace the original head with a new one and recycle the old head which would mean a half new motor for the inconvenience.

 

Ok dumb question, I am the second owner of my Fit, how will Honda know to send me a letter on this if needed or should I just take it to a dealer and ask about the recall?

 

from honda:
"owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicle requires repair by going on-line or calling. Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009, and select option 4."


it may take a couple of weeks before they can tell if your car is recalled.
if your car was made in december 2009 or later, you probably wont be recalled.

 

Just a thought.... perhaps my next fit in 5 years time may be an EV FIT - simple electric motor without all the valve springs, coils, mechanical parts associated with traditional gasoline engine... hopefully to save the hassle of greater possibility of future recalls of more moving parts of gasoline engine compared to electric vehicle... just a thought... easier said than done and I know EV has its failings.

 

Honda can track the VIN of your car to find out it's current registered owner or if it has a valid registration. And of course you can always touch bases with your local dealer and they'll just check your VIN - that's if they've already got any info/instructions about the recall.

 

Wonderful...now I can stress once again over the competence level of the mechanic. Just when I was getting comfy this might actually be an easy'ish fix.

 

More bad news if you ask me. I somehow doubt they'll go with a brand new head. We'll find out sooner or later. I'm really thankful for this forum and all the knowledgeable people.

 

I've did a little searching, and someone on the Honda-Tech.com did a walkthrough of the mechanical procedure for replacing these motion assemblies, assuming this is the same type of engine on thee 2010/09 fits:

HOW TO: Install New Lost Motion Assemblies in a Vtec head (LMA) - Honda-Tech

Like you, I have some concerns about the recall. I am not mechanically inclined, so I have a few concerns:

My biggest concern is that some mechanics are fantastic and well-trained, while others are sloppy. If a mechanic does a correct but sloppy job on this repair work, will it cause significant engine problems, or other negative effects such as reducing the seemingly supernatural gas mileage on my Fit? The worst mistakes I can envision are putting matched parts back in the wrong location. Am I correct in assuming a mechanic worth their salt knows to put parts taken from one location back where they came from? My local dealer has a very nice repair bay, and the dealer is pretty much dedicated to Hondas - I'm assuming the technicians know these cars inside and out - a hell of a lot more than I do.

Second, to me the repair work shown at the link above looked like major surgery. However, a colleague who is more mechanically skilled indicated that I might be surprised how fast a skilled mechanic can get that fixed, and that it wasn't really "major surgery" - work on something like the crankshaft or the bearings would be major, and this isn't major.

I will need to restrain myself from asking to stand over the mechanic doing the work on the engine - I think that would be pushing myself far into insufferable jerk territory.

 

That's not our L15 engine, however, that first note talks to the issue of the lost-motion springs. Procedure on the L15 is a bit different, but you get an idea from seeing this.

It's called engine mechanics - happens every day. If it's the first time you've ever seen an engine broken into it can be a bit discerning, but I tend not to watch heart surgeons work for the same reason....