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In March of 2016 I had to have the passenger side front axle replaced (thankfully i had an extended warranty at that point) and was assured it was a freak occurance.
Fast forward for to this past Friday (of course the 13th) and my 19 year old daughter now has the car (she’s living away at college). She calls me crying Friday night it’s broken down in the parking lot.
Get it towed and sure enough, it’s an axle!! That Honda garage is working with the one that did the first to see if it’s the same axle and whatnot. Because neither can believe it happened once let alone twice. And if it is they want to speak to a rep from Honda about footing the bill.
And the first garage tells me they have had two other Fits in the past week... broken axle. I’m just wondering if it’s a wider spread issue?? Or what the heck is going on. This is an 08 with 114,000 miles on it. It’s not like it’s well over 200k and normal wear and tear from beating it up. Quite frankly my teenager drives like a granny lol!
It was replaced with an OEM axle (I double checked when I called the dealership/ garage that I purchased the car from and had it replaced at).
I am am not a car expert by any means so bear with me. What they told me the first time was basically that it had snapped in half? This time they are saying it’s broken from the joint(?) over.
They both say seem just as flabbergasted as I do!
I’ll be speaking to them again in the when the new OEM parts come in. I’ll see if I can get more details. I do know they have both agreed to talk and compare notes and go to Honda itself to see if there is any way of getting payment from them before me. Because neither one says they have seen it happen let alone twice in 2 years. The car has been well taken care of. I’ve had it’s 5 years this month and only put around ~45,000 miles on it in that time so it’s not being abused with long commutes or driving over huge ruts daily or anything crazy.
That’s very strange as I don’t think that is an issue with Fits. I am wondering if there is something else going on causing the failure.
Not only Fits but Civics as well. If the original axle snapped, it is most likely due to rust at where Honda install a rubber vibration damper at the axle. We got out daughter Fit for free because of a snapped axle and the previous owner thought the trans let go because it made a loud noise and afterward a banging noise and no forward or backward movement of the car. There's a Youtube video by South Main Auto in which a Civic was towed to the shop and once it was on the lift you can see the broken axle. Aftermarket axle does not come with the rubber damper so rust will not reduce the sectional area of the axle.
It's an issue, and it's the salt put on our northern roads in the winter. The salty road water gets into the damper and stays there, corroding the axle inside the damper until there's not enough solid metal left to handle the torque.
About ten days ago, I tried to leave a traffic light. BANG! SHUDDER! CLICKCLICKCLICK... No forward or reverse. I looked under the car, and there was nothing obviously adrift, but I'm in the middle of a busy intersection with a no go car. As I couldn't see anything adrift underneath, I started suspecting the transmission.
Anyway, two cops helped me get the car out of the intersection and into a driveway, and I called a local shop that I deal with when I can't do the work myself, and had it towed there. They called me later that day to say that the right half shaft had snapped inside the damper, and that was the reason for no go and nothing adrift. They asked if I wanted to replace both half shafts, and I said HELL YES, taking no chances on a repeat. A week later and $700 bucks lighter, I had the car back. The shop owner and the lead mechanic both said that they had heard of this issue, but my '07 Fit was the first one that they had seen. They also opined that this should be a recall issue.
The thing about this that scares me green is that I just came home from a 2000 mile round trip from home to a friend's place in Texas. I hate to think what the result would had been if this had let go on I-35 at 78 mph. That broken shaft would have beat the underside of the car to death. I'd say to anybody with a Fit driven in the north on salted roads (and I see everyone here so far deals with salted roads) and with more than, oh, let's say 75,000 miles on the clock to consider replacing both half shafts, especially if they show any rust near those damn dampers.
I had just opened up the forum to write up my experience and post photos, but the first thing I saw on the header for the 1st generation forum was "Axle Problems???"
Anyway, here's the photos of the remains of my half shaft.
Tom
Update: there are six cases of this failure that have been submitted to the NHTSA.
The whole thing. The silver areas was all that was still transmitting power to the right wheel at the end A look into the damper.
I'd think that's gotta end up a recall, but we'll see. Thanks for the great pics illustrating the problem BilgeRat.
Thanks, Jared. We can help getting the recall process started by going to https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/ and filing a report. I checked on there and there were already six reports of the same problem up, so I filed mine. All that the report amounts to is typing in your VIN and answering a few questions. There's also the capability of uploading photos, too. It only took me about five minutes.
I wouldn't hold your breathe waiting for a recall. This is a corrosion issue and happens to many makes and models of front and 4 wheel drive vehicles. With rear drive, corrosion can take out u-joints, driveshafts, etc.
The reason why it's becoming more common on first gen fits is simply because there's now been enough time for the corrosion to eat it's way through. I'm betting that the whole underside of the car has rust.
A fellow forum member here has a great way to deal with winter salt. Kenchan slides a garden sprinkler under his daily drivers to rinse the salt off on occasion. Great idea in my book! Here we only get salted a few times a year so I just rinse the underside reall well after each time I drive on salted roads.
That stuff leads to mass corrosion for any vehicle. GD Fit's are now 10 years old. I'm sure many are getting rusty if the salt hasn't been removed regularly.
If you buy an OE Axle from Hondo I would just get a saw and cut off the rubber damper, or if you don't expect to keep the Fit for another 10 years just leave it alone. Most aftermarket axle doesn't come with the rubber damper. I bought two new aftermarket axles which have the rubber damper on them. As part of my yearly maintenance on the car I will just inspect the area around the rubber damper and if it appears that rust is starting to form in that area, I will just remove the rubber damper.
Since these issues started being reported, I've been greasing the axle next to the 'donut'. A nice coating seems to keep the salt out. (The grease stays in place from one oil change to another)
Regards aftermarket axles: I've heard of vibrations resulting from cheap axles on several cars, so those damper donuts must do SOMETHING. Seems as if the way to go is to buy factory remanufactured axles.
You can't recall something that is due to corrosion.
The salt they use on the roads now is horrible for the underside of cars. Original poster is upstate PA which gets some good snow. I have had many high mileage/old Honda's and my axles don't look that corroded but I wash under my car especially in the winter time.
Aftermarket axles are usually not that great and that rubber piece is there to reduce vibration which can cause transmission and other drive line issues.
I like Carbuff's idea and while I am changing my oil I will take a look at mine.
I've heard of rear beam-axles on other cars rusting and falling off!
Our CR-V has plastic covers on the leading edge of the rear lower control arms, presumably so that road grit will not remove the paint and allow rusting...
Manufacturers will absolutely recall vehicles for corrosion if it's a safety issue and within the expected useful lifetime. Numerous manufacturers have recalled control arms that rust prematurely, for example.
Carbuff, that's a good idea and I might have to shoot some fluid film or something on there next time I'm underneath now that we know this could happen.
07-17-2018, 06:18 PM
