Nice one! Nothing like threatening to go to the TV news folks to put a scare into the stealership. Thats a pretty scary picture of your condesor, mainly in that mine looks twenty times worse! You must have got hit in EXACTLY the wrong spot to kill the AC. Now go put the grille gaurd on and enjoy your new (ish) car!

 

My condenser was curved from an impact that also bent the bumper support and lost no pressure but was replaced anyway..... Your condenser looks better than any I've seen on other than a brand new car.

 

You think your car is a lemon or was that just a threat???

 

Just a threat.

 

Really, less than $5 for some fiberglass window screening will prevent any rocks or other debri from ever contacting your a/c condenser.
I did this when my '07 Sport was new and there is not a single mark on the condenser in 2 1/2 years of driving.

Easy to do, cheap insurance.

I do this on all new cars I buy.

 

This is a great idea, but I have no idea how to attach the screening. Could you describe the procedure and post some pics? I'm interested in doing this myself.

Thanks

 

poor design or not, why dont you go after 1 of 2, if not both the trucking company that housed the rock and the city for not keeping the hwy debris free? Same thing happened to my wife's accord, i was fortunate enough they warranted it for us. But in the same breath...i started to go after both the trucking company AND cal-trans.

so if you had a chevy, and this happened...would you go to kia or hyundai next?

 

It should be noted that a new CONDENSER ASSY. is only $233.13 from Majestic Honda.

 

Same thing happened to me only I had to pay a $99 (PRE TAX) non refundable diagnostic fee.

I don't have any current connections with the media. I might have to put up with the stealership for a while now

What's going on with this lawsuit in the US? This happened a year or so ago right? So what happened with that? Is this going to be a long drawn out thing?

I think it's pretty cut and dry, I would think that Honda lawyers could only draw something like this out for so long. Denying this as a design issue is probably as ridiculous as stating that the holocaust never happened. (Sorry for the cliche)

But only much more profitable for Honda!

I really like the direction that management is going in, I'm thinking about buying shares. Wait, oh wait, how much does this upset it's customers? Would you buy another Honda again knowing about this? I just got screwed over. THis will cost me $1000 because of this issue, and I'm upset. Outraged, but I'd rather have a problem like this then a stuck gas pedal. (Toyota)

I think the management is right, after all the Honda customers that have been screwed over like me, the people who weren't smart enough, you know, the overly trusting kind who didn't put a grill or protective cover over the condenser, will probably all go out and buy more Honda's. Right?

After all the stereo on the 2008 FIt is a nice shade of blue. Also, the 2009's have nice cup holders!

Way to go management, a big win for the shareholders?

Would this effect your next car purchase?

 

Element owners have had this issue for years.

First mod... "home depot" - Honda Element Owners Club Forum

 

I didn't read these forums for cheap ways to fix simple design issues that could potentiatlly cost me over 1 grand. Probably would have cost Honda $20 per car to prevent this from ever happening, if that.

I suppose it doesn't bother you at all that you had to make that modification? Nice job by the way!

It isn't really that big of a deal if you know about it in advance, the opening in my Fit is inches from the ground and I'm 6'2 and 1/2. I never got down on my news in front of the car to inspect it.

I feel like an idiot, but still can't believe Honda doesn't fix these things. I suppose they are making money on these defects?

Am I missing something?

Again small time stuff, if you catch it early.

Brilliant on the side of management, they think like my X-boss. (it seems)

 

Holy moly jvl, having a rock take out your A/C is not the same as the holocaust! I bought a new condenser for $200, put it in myself (~2 hours of my slow ass labor), and had the system recharged for $100. It is a big problem but I've learned not to get close to big trucks and to pass then quickly and as far over as possible.

 

Hope you didn't just loose your job! That's not cool.

Poor design should not be confused with design flaws. Take a look at how Honda markets the FIT in other countries. Not sure of their criteria but one could get pissed if he looked for a spare tire and only found a tire repair kit. Our friends up north see exactly that.

Rocks flying at a car do damage. Who can prevent that?

What I like about this forum is that I can learn from others experiences and that can save me money in the long run, or, as I'm learning about fitfreaks, it can cost me more money than I ever imagined.

Some guy on this forum has a FIT that devoured a raccoon or something just as large. Ya just never know.

K_C_ EDIT: BTW Welcome to the world of freaks where it only gets better, you're gonna like it here - that's a promise.

 

I have had my Fit a couple weeks shy of 4 years and have no damage to my A/C condenser. I have nothing more to prevent it from happening than maintain a safe distance behind cars and trucks..... I'll bet that no one that is an experienced motorcyclist has gotten a damaged condenser unless they have a false feeling of security behind the wheel of a car....

 

Krimson's point about the lack of a spare tire to save a few $ is equally disguisting in my opinion. I don't understand why Honda would do that? I don't think they really care about reputation anymore, but I don't get it. They do have nice looking kinda of fun to drive cars, perhaps that's there thing. Maybe quality is more of a Toyota think I dunno.

I'm not sure what the difference between bad design and design flaws are either, I think of them as more or less the same thing.

And Texas Coyote, well your probably just lucky, there's nothing you can do about stone damage where I'm from. That is you get on the 401 and rocks fly about in all of the lanes, I think it's probably more to do with your geographic location then anything else. You won't see a rock coming. I've been looking at all other cars more or less in parking lots and what not, and I havn't seen a more exposed A/C condenser then what's on the Fit. I think it's worse then the element, they look the same but the Fit's is inches from the ground.

Maybe up here in Southern Ontario we have bum police (Regarding trucks and regulation) These gravel truckers should be ticketed but there not for some reason. I can't drive for 80KM on a major highway without getting hit by a rock. I can't avoid it. (I have lots of stone chips and stuff on my car), Not Honda's fault.


FYI - For fun I read in the lemon aid car guide, that the condensor on the Honda fit is so fragile that you can poke a hole through it with your finger. So I gave it a go, and it's true.

Oh yeah, I bought a grill from cloud-rider designs, they have an after market solution so that you won't have to replace your condenser every 40,000KM. Or you could just do the DIY stuff, but I was worried about getting a rattle or annoying sound.

Oh yeah and if you do the DIY solution or insert an aftermarket grill for the fit. (That allows for adequete ventilation, you are throwing away your warrenty on the power train of your car.) I'm doing it anyways because I know I'll have to replace my condenser every 30 - 40 thousand kilometers. Mine is really beaten up and I more or less just drive on pavement.

Yes it pisse's me off, I like Honda's cars I think in general but I don't like they policies about warrenty, that's for sure. I don't like this condenser stuff either, it would not happen on any or make of car or at least much less often!

No spare tire to save money, I like that too. Honda should make a comerical about it to sell more cars or something.

 

Oh yeah the dealler just left a message on my machine asking me about how my service visit went when I took my car in 3 weeks ago to get my A/C fixed. This is when I only payed the $99 diagnostic fee to see if it would be covered under warranty or not. I decided then not to have them fix my car.

Not only will they take you for a ride if you try to get them to honor their warranty, they won't let you forget about it either.

The lemon-aid guide gave detailed instructions about how to send authentic looking threatening letters to there legal department threatening to sue them not only for the warranty work but for putting you through a lot of hassle and frustration. The author claims this is the only way to get Honda and most other car companies to honor or back there vehicles. (Warranty related issues)

But I just never bothered to dick around back with them. I don't have time for that crap.

Very classy, loved the customer service phone call!

 

Dam it sounds like we need a DIY wrote up on how to protect this so it does not happend to the rest of the fit owners.

 

jvl - you do know that right here on the freak forum is a discussion thread specifically set up for issues like yours: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/tell-honda/



K_C_

 

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...rocks-not.html

This might be what ya'll are looking for.

 

Well I have already called Honda Canada about it. I suppose I could put a post on the fit-freaks tell honda forum. But it would just say, please read this post which is weird. No one has gotten anywhere with Honda about this, and I honestly have tried. I'm moving on off this issue now. I just wanted to share my experience with others on the forum.

LOL - The issue, It is published in the 2009 or -2010 lemonaid guide, I can't recall which year, if it was in 2009, 2010. Point is, 2 weeks ago I read about it at my local walmart. They were selling lemonaid car books and basically it discusses what is in this post. The lemonaid guide claims that any modification to protect the condenser will void your warrenty. I believe it because they told me when I bought my new Fit that any rust protection for my new fit that I purchase other than using rust protection they sell at the dealership would void my warrenty. (How ridicuoulous does that sound?)

No I write the truth check out the lemonaid car guide.

I also have personally called Honda Canada and complained that Honda doesn't sell an aftermarket part to fix the issue. I find it very weak that they will not allow you to do anything to fix this.

Which is why if I have a warrenty issue on my powertrain, and if they try to wiggle out, which apparently they always do, I will probably consider taking it to small claims court. I'm pretty sure I would win, from reading lemon-aid, I'm not the first person to go this route.