This past Saturday I bought a 2016 Honda Fit LX. At the dealership the car sounded a little strange when we tried to start it the first time but the dealer assured us that it was due to the car sitting at the back of the lot for awhile (it was still wrapped in plastic). Neither my husband or I really know anything about cars and that sounded plausible to us, but became less plausible when we took it home and lo-and-behold, it was having problems starting (this time much more obvious, multi-attempts to start it). We took it back to the dealership Monday and they are telling us that the starter is bad. Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening to a car that has less than 30 miles on it? Or is this possibly going to end up a lemon? I also have a hard time believing that this was somehow "missed" when they look the car over/check the battery/etc., am I being crazy?

 

I've never heard of a bad starter on a brand new car. There was a Fit battery recall on early 2015s but nothing for the 2016.

I have not had this problem.

 

Am sure it's "possible," but pretty unlikely.....whatever, it's under warranty, and I'd press for a rental/loaner while they fix whatever they gotta fix.....OP, no, you're not being crazy, and chances of it being a "lemon" are pretty slim, imho....make 'em fix it under warranty, get a loaner/rental from them (if they're decent folks), and chalk it up to "shtuff happens..."

 

The starter on my '15 Fit failed this summer at about 21,000 miles.

 

That's ridiculous. A starter should last to 100K miles.

 

did they put in fresh gas? or was it full of old gas..

 

Well look at it this way.
If it was sitting on the lot with only 30 miles on it, and still wrapped in plastic, than you can rest assured nobody had much time operating it to evaluate anything.

It's a flaw, a defect. But not unheard of. When you think of the sheer number of Honda Fit's, that are produced and shipped and sold? A statistical percentage are going to have brand new parts that may be defective. Unfortunately it seems you have one.

I would proceed with the attitude that you unfortunately got a new Honda Fit with a bad starter. Let the dealership replace it under warranty.
Hopefully that will end your problems, and you will be able to enjoy years of reliability. I wouldn't default to this singular incident being indicative of you having a "Lemon".

Modern manufacturing standards make getting "Lemons" pretty rare. If you do have one? Then other problems will manifest. You won't even have to ask.

But in this singular incident? Well...I'd go with a Bad Starter...leading to a bad start...with a new car..but hopefully replacement can lead to a new beginning.

It's unfortunate but not surprising that your dealership seemed more focused on selling you the car than investigating your concerns. But they WANT to sell you the vehicle and deal with any mechanical or warranty concerns later.

 

I've purchased brand new components that have been bad out of the box. Unfortunately, these things happen. I wouldn't personally worry that you have a lemon.

If you have another problem with the starter shortly thereafter, then I would begin to worry and complain, loudly.

 

I had a snowblower that had a noisy starter when new.

Never fixed it until I broke a gear on it (the one that connects to the flywheel). So now I just pull-start it.



You can't pull-start a Fit. So, get your starter fixed right away!

 

My 2016 had a bad rear camera display at 3K miles.

Dealer changed radio head unit.

Knock on wood. No further problems except a piece of plastic inside trim that dealer replaced at 8K..

 

ive purchased many new cars in my life time (over 25 cars) not had a faulty starter, but on my wife's 16 EX, the driver side window glass almost fell out of the frame (since day 2 it was not working properly). i was stupid not to check the power windows at the dealership because it was a really hot day and had the a/c blasting during the test drive... also never even expected such elementary problem on a brand new Honda. after the 2nd trip to the dealer they finally agreed to fix everything. and they did.

GL with the repair.

 

Electrical stuff tends to go bad right away or last a good long time. You had a starter that was defective from the get-go.

The man at the dealer flat out lied to you. He was betting that the noise would go away and willing to risk your time and trouble on the wager.

 

I just had my starter replaced at 29k

 

Mine was replaced at 19k. Also noted, sunroof glass was replaced at 8k, weatherstrip thingy was really loose and they just replaced the entire glass.