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Just got the letter in the mail detailing the safety recall due to improper protective coating on the drive shaft. Says they don't have replacement parts so just wait and they'll send another letter once parts are available.
Yes. Disappointing. My car was built on US Thanksgiving day 2008. I have made more trips to the shop for recalls and TSBs than for repairs since January, 2009, when we got it. That doesn’t include five weeks sitting on the dealer lot after air conditioning parts fell off and the dealer found out Honda was out of them. If the car wasn’t so doggone useful we would have replaced it long ago.
I got my letter today. I feel bad for Honda... the profit margin on a modest car that sold new for under 20 grand is not tremendous, and to have to shell out all that money after a decade of water under the bridge must hurt.
My '10 Fit has over 160K miles on it and since new had been 100% reliable, never needing more than wear items (oil, filter, wiper blades, tires, brake pads, light bulbs, battery) but last year the right front axle shaft broke while my wife was driving it and the garage she took it to said the left one was also heavily rusted and in bad condition. The repair was $846 total for both drive shafts. Now it seems Honda is going to reimburse me! Yay! But it will be worth it to them in the long run; I'm eying a Ridgeline.
I bought the Fit because I bought an '83 CX650 Turbo that I still have, that starts right up and accelerates like bat out of hell. Exotic technology and turnkey reliability.... I bought the FIT in 2010 because I wanted a car from the company that had the audacity to build that bike.
^^^ Nice comment.
I feel very much the same. Honda is a great company and I will continue to buy their vehicles.
I currently own and drive a 2010 Fit, and a 1998 Prelude. Both have been flawless since new.
In the past, I have owned 4 Honda Motorcycles, two other Preludes and a Civic....all rock solid.
I have 230K miles on the Fit and 125K on the Prelude....as of now.
Yes. Disappointing. My car was built on US Thanksgiving day 2008. I have made more trips to the shop for recalls and TSBs than for repairs since January, 2009, when we got it. That doesn’t include five weeks sitting on the dealer lot after air conditioning parts fell off and the dealer found out Honda was out of them. If the car wasn’t so doggone useful we would have replaced it long ago.
Yeah man I also hate it when my car is incredibly reliable and the manufacturer replaces parts for free that are already nearing the end of their service life to ensure my safety.
I do not care about the success of companies and I feel no emotional bond to Honda but this post is entirely you taking issue with a great ownership experience.
I’m not taking issue with your great ownership experience. You do know that they recall these cars because the government requires them to, right? Even when the car was in warranty I had trouble getting coverage for replacements based upon TSBs even if the TSB calls for extended warranty on the part. My experience has been that when Fit parts fail in large numbers of vehicles (such as fan motor and air conditioning clutch assemblies—don’t remember the exact part) Honda can’t generate parts and the owners are SOL until they can. I have not had that experience with our Accord.
I am not taking issue with you. I am saying that my ownership experience with the Fit has not been great. My Honda Fit has not been “incredibly reliable” and the manufacturer has not replaced parts for free that were out of warranty (I don’t expect them to, but I do expect them to have access to parts in a timely way) except for mandatory recalls.
I'm curious about how they will visually check for corrosion. People have posted here about you cannot see the part of the shaft that gets corroded without taking the rubber damper off. And the only way to do that is to cut it off.
2010 Fit Sport, original owner, 132,700 miles. Got my letter a few days ago. Next time I change my oil, I'll take a look at the driveshafts. But, yeah, I'm curious too on how they plan to check it without cutting off the boot. On the other hand, if the boot is intact, shouldn't that have kept the salt off of the inner parts of the driveshaft?
Not doing the airbag recall is certainly an interesting approach. I signed up even my beater for that, though they aren't offering to do the driveshafts unfortunately. They do seem to be in decent shape at least.
I already snapped one drive shaft , I replaced the other . I have my case open with Honda now for reimbursement . I paid to have the broken axle replaced , like $500 . Cost me $100 to do the other myself .
You can tell it's corroded just looking at the edge of the damper .
Just to be fair to everybody's point of view here, we need to keep in mind that these safety recalls are driven/ ordered by the Federal Government- not Honda! This recall is a safety recall, not just a good will gesture by the manufacturer. If Honda had put a good powdercoated finish on the axles when they were new, this recall probably wouldn't be happening. That cost saving by Honda ultimately became a safety issue.
A lot of owners that rely on the dealer or a repair shop to fix things like broken axles, have paid out a lot of money for repairs like this that ultimately Honda is responsible for because they were a poor design and a safety issue. Honda is helping out now because the Federal Government sees this as a safety issue and mandated Honda to deal with it. This is just my two cents worth
Local dealer told me the updated recall only applies to automatic transmissions.
Unless the stick shift axles are different than the auto axles that doesn't make sense. Call the North American Honda help line and have them confirm this info.
