In the last few days I've noticed a sort of rapid flapping noise coming from
the front of my Fit. Thought it might have been a plastic bag or such that
got hung up under the car. Went under the car today to take a look.
No plastic bag...but...Honda has a large thick piece of molded gray plastic
that covers the underside of the engine. I'm assuming it provides some sort
of minimal protection from road objects. Well, the back of this cover is
completely loose, thus, the source of the rapid flapping noise. The back of
the plastic has 2 square holes where the fasteners go and they are both
gone. Walked along the driveway and found one. Its a simple plastic bolt
and seat about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. Could not believe that Honda would
use a plastic bolt to secure this large plastic cover to the bottom side of
the vehicle. The bolts at the front of the cover are steel and bolt into the
frame. So I have temporarily secured the back side of the cover with large
tie wraps and will take it to the dealer to see if there is an alternate
solution for securing the back side of this cover.

Thought you would like to know.

Jim

 

Yep.


Been- posted in a few posts that under the "2015 FIT and probably the upcoming 2016's" parts are secured by "plastic" screws, etc.- so that isn't pleasing to know! Since- those have to be screwed in- and hey- that is manual labor and I hope someone gets a car built by a factory employee on a Tuesday-Thursday and not on a (Monday or Friday)...

 

the actual screw is plastic? or is it a plastic bumper push pin?

 

That sounds pretty normal for just about any manufacturer to use plastic fasteners to hold on the underbody plastics. Your front bumper is held on pretty much the same way.

 

would you rather have a rusted metal bolt? if its gone it doesn't matter if its plastic or metal, its lost. did the oil change person just not put it back on ?
just think how cheap it will be to place from Lowes. yers they have metric nylon bolts.

ps that cover is supposed to make the Fit more aero. and it does.

 

There are six other *metal* screws that hold the cover on... I went by my dealer to get replacements for mine (which went missing between my first and second oil change, and yes, I reinstalled them correctly). Not in stock, of course...

es

 

It is a plastic screw. Doesn't hold well, When I changed my oil, I had to check and re check it. Barely holds on. Real chintzy. Took longer to get those screws holding than the rest of the oil change!

 

Not exactly shocking in the 21st century for the construction of automobiles.

 

It isn't really a screw, it is a expanding fastener to make it easy to mate up the cover before installing the six screws that actually hold it in place.

The proper way to use it is to simply push the assembly through the hole, then push the "plastic screw" straight in. There is no need to tighten it.

The screw does have a light thread on it to make it easy to remove with a Phillips screwdriver and a light touch.

It's not a design I like. I don't like the idea of removing eight fasteners just to get at the oil filter.