Hello- I'm new to the forum. I found it looking for my minor issue I have with my dashboard.

I'm 51 and have driven nearly everything. My wife and I have had 4 CRVs between us over the last 13 years and always trouble free. I only traded in my 2012 CRV with her Volvo S40 to get a 2016 CRV.

I was looking at another as a 2nd car, but originally thinking used CRV/HRV/Civic for price reasons. My 4 year old randomly got into the Fit sitting on the showroom. I got in to get him out and found out that even as a 6'2" guy I fit nicely in the Fit. Took one for a test ride, got a great price on a new 2016 Fit EX (sitting around dealer until mid 2017) for $16k and it's been a great car. I'm impressed with the room and the ride is stiff but relatively sporty, handling well at high speed. Wish it had another 20hp and that I had gotten the leather heated seats, but it's really in a class by itself for it's size. I travel a lot and have rented most of it's competitors...

Anyway, I found this forum searching for my problem. My left corner pillar by the dash is misaligned/sagging about 2mm on the driver's side.

I'm curious of anyone else has this and/or if I should complain and get it addressed. I honestly love the car and am getting great mileage and have even taken it on some longer tips with no issues. I would like to see if the dealer can address this defect under warranty (if possible). I don't know what is involved to get it fixed and surprised it was allowed to pass inspection based on the quality and reliability of my previous Hondas (2004, 2005, 2012 and 2016 CRV). I think all Fits are probably the same process, but this was made in Japan. I'm a photographer and very detail oriented, but didn't notice this before buying the car. I could add photo if needed...

 

I'm not sure what it wold take to fix it, but I'd go to the dealer & let them see if they can fix it. That would bug me too. Good luck & let us know how it turns out.

Welcome to Fit ownership & to the forum.

 

This shows how the dash on the driver's side is about 2-3mm lower than the passenger side, which is flush with the corner pillar. 2016 Honda Fit EX gap between dash and left pillar and vent plastic piece

 

2 cents.. dont expect fit and finish to be perfect on these mexican hondas.

 

Thanks. My fit was assembled in Japan, but I'm not convinced there is any difference. Assembly is a byproduct of the process put in place by Honda in every plant, and I have no reason to believe that it's any different in Mexico than it would be in Japan.

 

Thanks. I don't think my expectations for a new car, even one that's only $16,000, are unreasonable. I wanted black and this was the only black 2016 left at the reduced price. I haggled them down from $16,900 to $16,000 for an EX with 32 miles on it. Full warranty as it's still "new."

 

Thank you. I'll bring it up at my first oil change. Below is a photo of the gap (dash is flush/tight on the right side).
Driver's side dash and pillar on new 2016 Fit EX

 

My first reaction is if you bought it new try to get if resolved under warranty.

My Fear?
If it's something real subtle or minor, you'll get the Ol' - "They Are All Like That" refrain and they won't cover it under warranty.
But you have nothing to lose in asking, and seeing how helpful the dealership may be.
If it really is misaligned and not up to specifications...then you deserve to have it fixed.

 

so honda quality is universally crap.

 

Ha, yes. I thought of that, too, but I can point to all of the other Fits on the lot that are perfect. I've bought 4 cars from the same dealer now, so I have some loyalty leverage.

 

This is our 5th Honda and we've had no problems with any of them mechanically. We traded in a 2005 CRV on the 2012 CRV and it had 170,000 trouble free miles on it. This issue, while minor and cosmetic, should be easy to address. If not, I can live with it.

 

VW definitely figured out how to make cars at their mexican plant. they need to go back and re-teach their germany plant.

 

Let's be clear.
The OP has said more than once that this is a Japanese Build Fit. Why do we keep mentioning Mexico?

 

I agree with you about German VWs, at least in my experience. My best VW was the 2006 Jetta TDI, made in Mexico.

The point is merely that the company (Honda, VW, Mercedes, etc) determines the quality through their assembly process, not the location or race of the labor, which, increasingly is robots not people. It's not efficient to reinvent the wheel with each new plant. Corporations take their process and just move it to wherever the labor is cheapest, unfortunately. I doubt Honda allow different manufacturing tolerances in one country than another. I can't claim to know their reasons for moving Fit manufacturing back to Japan, but I suspect it is more about meeting high demand.

As Honda and Acura are not only highly rated in Consumer Reports but also by JD Power and various other agencies at most reliable and with many of their models on the "most likely to hit 200,000" mark, like Toyota and Subaru, I'm not worried about quality. If a minor dash alignment issue is my only issue, I will consider myself very lucky based on every other car I've owned. One of my reasons for sticking with Honda in recent years has been great luck with the cars and particularly good experience with my local dealer.

5 Car Quality Myths, Busted | J.D. Power Cars

 

cause he said it don't matter where its built. all honda suck in his opinion cause they are all exactly the same.

 

I said nothing of the sort. I've had universally great experiences with Honda. No mechanical problems in any of them and much better experiences than I've had with any other brand, hence the continued loyalty.

 

im just messing with ya.

 

Resolution- It wasn't the dash, which was perfectly level. It was merely the left A pillar (tan plastic piece going from dash to ceiling), which merely needed to be pushed down to stay flush against the dash and the small window left of the dash. I am happy with my Fit EX and am glad it was such as easy fix.

 

Nice easy fix!

 

My 2015 fit ex manual had the same issue when bought new. After months of attempts, the issue is the clip that holds the 3 pieces together. It drove me nuts for a long time and dealer replaced for free when i told them what the issue was!