I will have to check that out, I have an appointment to get my chrome replaced Saturday, and if mine are like this I will have them fix this too. I don't even use the back seats, they are going to be permanently down probably anyways. lol

 

I would not expect Honda to have a flood of this brite plastic trim trouble.


The problem can occur to any of the plastic trim with a "chrome" top surface. It is probably a question of cleanliness in the manufacturing process of the trim itself. The plastic trim strip will be an injection molded part, that does not have a "chrome" finish on it. The "chrome" finish will get applied to the molded plastic part, likely days after the part is molded and perhaps by a different company.


The brite finish will need the plastic part to be clean, or the brite finish won't stick to the plastic as intended. This would be the case if the "chrome " is an actual plating process, or is a thin plastic adhesive film that gets applied.


At the supplier who molds the plastic trim, they probably take care to keep the molded parts clean by having everyone wear gloves.. It can be something as innocent as someone touching the plastic part with their bare hand, that transfers some normal body oil to the part. That transfer may not be visible, but will affect the later brite finish application.... The contamination of the plastic surface can happen anywhere, prior to the brite finish going on.. Drop a part and someone picks it up with their bare hand? These are being mass-produced, probably by the hundreds each hour, and not just one every few minutes.


After the nice looking "chrome" trim arrives at the Honda factory in Celaya, if it looks okay it gets put on a new Fit. That new car winds up in the USA and eventually gets to an area where it gets heat-soaked and hot enough. The different expansion rates of the plastic trim and the brite finish on it don't agree, so the weaker bond (from the contamination) between these two materials breaks and blisters in the brite finish can form.


It shouldn't happen, but the parts are made and handled by humans before they get assembled into a car.. If we wanted to buy a perfect car, we wouldn't like the much higher price. So we buy a good car at a good price. Affordable manufacturing is about volume production and not perfection.