I'm not sure if this belongs in the quality issues thread, but this is a question.

There may be some difficulties related to producing a new design in a new facility with a new workforce. The quality issues thread seems to illustrate a fair number of fit/finish problems.

How long do companies typically take to work through the issues surrounding a new model? Is it better to wait until the model is near the end of the run in 4-5 years, or will they sort all this out in a few months?

 

I work for a large heavy equipment manufacturer, and as is typical in manufacturing, we closely monitor early build machines for issues and try to correct them quickly. I suspect the fact we have a Honda rep monitoring this board and occasionally asking folks to provide more info or take the car in points to the fact Honda is doing the same thing with the Fit.

My car has a build number in the 19,5xx range and so far I've seen none of the issues being reported here.

While problems may continue to pop up, I would expect later build cars to largely have the initial quality issues resolved.

That said, it's often the last or next-to-last year of a particular generation's production that is the best sorted out… If you don't need a car for the next few years, then just wait! (c:

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Thanks Stembridge. I don't need a car right now. I don't really like waiting, either! I'm thinking maybe in spring.

I came very close to buying the new Mitsubishi Mirage but found the dealer pricing to be unacceptable (too many added fees). The Mirage is, by all accounts "less car" than the Fit. On the other hand, there is nothing on the Mirage that is at all new, experimental, or complicated. That car has been built for a few years with no changes, conventional fuel injection, nothing fancy at all - that simplicity appeals to me. In some ways, it seems like Honda back when they were starting out - simple, no frills, reliable.

 

No production line will ever have perfect quality, but the typical number of defects with time tends to follow this curve:


Initially (say, the first 5000 cars) the number of defects is very high and this results in a lot of rework. The cars that find their way out to the public are actually pretty good because they've been gone over more carefully. Later on, (for cars 5000-15000, say) the number of defects that get to the customers actually goes up because the defects are not as major and the inspectors are somewhat numbed by their job. Manufacturing defects do tend to go down, though, so pretty soon the rate of defects reaching the customer will begin to decline again. I think that this is the point we are at.

Customers who wait for the "feeding frenzy" to die down will end up with better cars too!